Iowa judge rules Libertarian candidates can't contest elections
DES MOINES, Iowa: An Iowa judge upheld a state election panel’s decision and ruled that three Libertarian candidates seeking U.S. House seats in Iowa cannot appear on the ballot this November.
The decision came after the candidates appealed a ruling by the State Objection Panel, comprising one Democratic and two Republican elected officials, who said the Libertarian candidates should be removed from the ballot on a technicality.
Several Republican Party officials argued that the Libertarian Party failed to follow state law when it nominated the candidates at its party convention on the same day as precinct caucuses where the candidates were selected. State law says the term of convention delegates begins the day after the caucuses.
That means the Libertarian candidates were not nominated at valid county conventions, conservative attorney Alan Ostergren argued.
Polk County District Judge Michael Huppert agreed and rejected the candidates’ arguments that the state panel had no authority to strike them from the ballot. He found that the state law is “mandatory in nature and requires strict compliance.”
The panel’s Republican members, Attorney General Brenna Bird and Secretary of State Paul Pate, sided with the challengers, saying the parties must follow the rules governing candidate nominations. The lone dissent on the three-person panel came from State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, who accused his colleagues of political bias.
Independent or third-party candidates usually have little chance of winning. Still, the question of how their margin of support could change the race’s outcome vexes Democratic and Republican leaders alike.
One of Iowa’s four congressional races was decided by a razor-thin margin in 2022. Republican Zach Nunn, who challenged incumbent Democrat Cindy Axne, won by less than a percentage point. There was not a third-party candidate.
The Libertarian Party of Iowa reached major party status in 2022 when their nominee for governor earned support from more than 2 percent of voters.