Marco Battaglia, a Libertarian vying for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District seat, said he plans to appeal a judge’s ruling preventing him from appearing on November’s ballot.
A Polk County judge upheld the State Objection Panel's decision to remove Battaglia from the ballot. The panel kicked Battaglia off the ballot in June due to his nomination papers not matching his legal name, Mark T. Andersen.
The judge also agreed with the panel’s ruling to keep Libertarian Rick Stewart on the ballot. Stewart is running in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.
The ruling comes after another Polk County judge earlier this week upheld the state panel’s decision to keep Libertarian Nicholas Gluba, and his running mate Jules Cutler, off the November ballot in the race for governor.
Libertarian candidates on the ballot could draw crucial votes away from other candidates in tight races. Iowa’s governor’s race and 3rd Congressional District are rated as “toss ups” by political forecasters, which is the most competitive ranking. Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District is categorized as “lean Republican.”
Earlier this week, Battaglia issued a release stating he would not drop out of the race. He told IPR News he’s not surprised by the judge’s decision.
“I actually sent my response before the decision came out because I know they hate me and they’re playing dirty pool,” he said.
Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott are currently running in the 3rd Congressional District. Democratic state Rep. Lindsay James, Republican former state Rep. Joe Mitchell and independent candidate Dave Bushaw are running in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.
Battaglia removed from ballot over name issues
Annie Kuhle, a GOP strategist, and Wes Enos, Nunn’s deputy chief of staff, brought forward the original objection to Battaglia’s candidacy in June. The objection pointed to Battaglia not using his legal name on his nominating papers and all parts of his affidavit of candidacy.
Battaglia argued the panel incorrectly narrowed the meaning of the term “name” by implying it would mean “legal name.” And he contended he had run using the same name in previous elections without issues.
Judge Patrick Smith wrote that the government not strictly enforcing name requirements in past elections does not prevent the panel from enforcing the law now.
“Requiring a candidate for public office to be nominated and appear on the ballot using their name recognized by law (which for Andersen is his birth name) is more aligned to strict statutory compliance than allowing the candidate to use whatever name the candidate wants to use,” he wrote.
Stewart allowed to stay on
Rick Stewart faced an objection in June for listing a different name on his nomination petition than one on his affidavit of candidacy. Stewart listed “Richard” on nomination petitions but listed his name as “Rick” on an affidavit of candidacy where “candidate’s name” was required.
Smith upheld the panel’s decision to allow Stewart to remain on the ballot, noting Iowa code doesn’t require the form of the candidate’s name on nominating papers to be identical to the form of the name on the affidavit of candidacy or the ballot.
