Iowa judge set to rule on Libertarians’ ballot challenge

DES MOINES — Local elections officials across Iowa are keeping an eye on the calendar as a deadline to deliver ballots looms while a legal dispute puts the ballots on hold.

No ruling was issued as of 5:45 p.m. Friday in a case involving three Libertarian Party candidates for U.S. House in Iowa who have challenged a state panel’s ruling that would remove them from the ballot in the Nov. 5 election.

Earlier this week, Iowa District Court Judge Michael Huppert issued an injunction that stopped the Iowa secretary of state from certifying ballots on which the Libertarian candidates would appear until the matter is resolved in the courts.

That means that so long as the matter works through the courts, local elections officials in three of the state’s four congressional districts cannot start printing ballots. And that is beginning to create a time crunch.

The legal challenge was brought by Libertarian Congressional candidates Nicholas Gluba in Eastern Iowa’s 1st District, Marco Battaglia in Central Iowa’s 3rd District, and Charles Aldrich in Western Iowa’s 4th District.

They are challenging an Aug. 28 ruling by the State Objections Panel, which by a 2-1 vote upheld objections to the Libertarians’ candidacies that alleged the state party failed to follow proper procedures when nominating the candidates to run.

Libertarians challenged the ruling in Polk County District Court in Des Moines.

Ballot printing paused

While that legal dispute plays out, the process of printing ballots has been frozen in those three districts.

By state law, ballots cannot be printed until after they are certified by the Iowa secretary of state. Meantime, federal law requires ballots to overseas military personnel be mailed no later than 45 days before Election Day. That deadline is roughly two weeks away, on Sept. 21.

A common theme among Iowa county auditors asked by The Gazette about that approaching deadline was that they believe they can still get ballots printed on time, but that window is closing and any further delays could cause serious issues.

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“Any further compressed time on the already compressed time frame of trying to get 99 counties ballots to the printers and back is a concern,” said Becky Bissell, president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors and the Adams County auditor.

“Proofreading is very important step, and I fear that not having enough time to do that is a concern, especially with having to get (overseas military) ballots out by Sept. 21 deadline,” Bissell said. “With that being said, auditors and their staff are resilient, and the printers have always been amazing in understanding our timelines. So I’m sure we’ll make it work regardless.”

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Johnson County Interim Auditor Erin Shane agreed.

“The pause in ballot certification due to the legal challenges sets up a domino effect on all our work, especially on the critical steps related to preparing and finalizing ballots for voter use,” she said. “We know the state is aware of the imminent deadline and are hopeful the legal challenges will be finalized very soon.”

Early Friday, Huppert clarified his injunction to state that it applied only where the three Libertarian candidates would be on the ballot: in the state’s 1st, 3rd and 4th congressional districts.

That clarification cleared the way for the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office to certify ballots in Eastern Iowa’s 22-county 2nd Congressional District, which includes Linn County.

How it all happened

After no Libertarian Party candidates in Iowa ran for U.S. House in the state’s primary election in June, party officials held a special nominating convention to nominate candidates in three of the state’s four congressional districts.

Objections filed in mid-August with the State Objections Panel claimed the Libertarian congressional candidates are ineligible for the ballot because their state party failed to follow proper nominating procedures as outlined in state law.

The panel — consisting of Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate, Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird and Democratic Auditor Rob Sand — met Aug. 28 and voted 2-1 to uphold the objections and remove the Libertarians from the ballot. Pate and Bird cast the majority votes, with Sand opposed.

The Libertarians challenged the panel’s ruling in district court, and Huppert granted their request for an injunction to stop the secretary of state from certifying ballots until the issue is resolved in the courts. Huppert heard oral arguments in the case Thursday.

During the hearing, lawyers for the Libertarian candidates argued the state panel overstepped its bounds and ruled on an objection that was not under its purview, and that the Libertarian Party substantively complied with state law and that the objections equate to removing candidates from the ballot over a technicality.

Lawyers for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, which represented the State Objections Panel, argued that state law must be followed to the letter to ensure Iowa’s elections feature integrity and transparency. They also argued there is nothing unfair about the state requirements that the Libertarian Party of Iowa failed to meet, and that they should be held to the same standard as other major political parties.

Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts, currently represented by Republicans U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, respectively, are projected to be closely contested.

In the 1st District, which includes Johnson County, Democrat Christina Bohannan is challenging Miller-Meeks, and in the 3rd District, Democrat Lanon Baccam is challenging Nunn. National elections forecasters rate the two elections as leaning Republican or a tossup.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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