A Polk County judge has ruled that three Iowa Libertarian Party candidates for Congress will not appear on the ballot in this fall’s election, upholding a state committee’s decision to remove them last week.
The Libertarian Party plans to appeal the ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court, which must act quickly to resolve the case before ballots are printed later this month.
Three Libertarian candidates — Nicholas Grba in the 1st District, Marco Battaglia in the 3rd District and Charles Aldrich in the 4th District — were challenged by Republican voters last month who said the Libertarian Party did not follow the law by holding its caucus and county convention on the same night in January.
The state Objections Board sided with the opponents and voted 2-1 to remove the three candidates from the ballot. The Libertarian Party then appealed to the court, presenting its arguments Thursday to Polk County District Judge Michael Huppert.
In his ruling Saturday, Judge Happert upheld the state Board of Objections’ decision and dismissed the Libertarian Party candidates’ appeal. The ruling means that Libertarian candidates will not run in Iowa’s 1st, 3rd and 4th congressional districts this fall, unless the Supreme Court rules otherwise.
“Obviously we disagree with the ruling and are disappointed,” Jules Cutler, chair of the Iowa Libertarian Party, said Saturday. “What the court has now recognized is that a party that controls three branches of our political system engaged in a last-minute maneuver to remove competition from the general election ballot.”
At issue in the lawsuit was the fact that the Libertarian Party held its county convention on the same night as its precinct meeting on January 15, in violation of state law that states that county convention delegates begin their terms the day after they are elected.
The Libertarian Party also failed to notify county auditors of the results of precinct meetings, including the names of those elected as delegates to the county convention, as required by state law.
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The Libertarian Party laid out several arguments for why they believe these issues do not deserve to be removed from the ballot.
The Libertarian Party argued that Iowans who challenged the three House candidates did not have standing to do so because all of the challengers were Republicans, but Happert said Iowa Statute 43.24 allows anyone to challenge a candidate as long as they have the right to vote for that candidate.
The Libertarian Party also argued that the State Objections Committee exceeded its authority by interfering in the convention process rather than limiting itself to issues related to candidates’ nomination papers and certificates of nomination, as specified by law.
In his ruling, Judge Huppert said the law allows for challenges to the “legal validity” of nomination certificates issued by political parties.
“The ‘legal validity’ of any nomination document necessarily includes factors other than the document’s content,” he wrote, “and it is reasonable to conclude that it also includes whether the proper procedures prescribed by law were followed in preparing the document.”
Alan Ostergren, an attorney representing Republican voters who challenged the Libertarian Party candidate, said in court Thursday that the Libertarian Party failed to follow basic rules that parties must follow when nominating candidates.
“The Libertarian Party has never suggested or indicated that it was unable to comply with its obligations to conduct basic party organizational activities,” he said. “They simply did not do it.”
The Libertarian Party argued that it was effectively complying with the law because it had held county conventions, even though those conventions were held on the same day as its caucuses.
But Happert said the law requires political parties to strictly comply with its requirements, and that merely complying with them substantively is not enough.
“In this case, the law establishes the beginning of a county convention delegate’s authority by setting the date on which the delegate’s term begins,” he wrote. “This clearly goes to the heart of what a delegate can and cannot do. A delegate has no authority to act on behalf of his party until his term begins.”
In his ruling, Judge Happert said that because the law applies equally to all political parties, the procedures required by law to nominate candidates to the ballot do not violate the Libertarian Party’s First Amendment right to freedom of association.
“This process does not favor the Libertarian Party, but rather applies to any organization considered a major political party under Iowa law,” he wrote.
Iowa’s ballots must be printed by Sept. 21, the date by which military and overseas ballots must be mailed to voters under federal law.
Early voting for all other voters begins Oct. 16. The election is Nov. 5.
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Steven Gruber Miller covers the Iowa Legislature and politics for the Register. Contact him by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter: @sgrubermiller.
