Iowa Supreme Court affirms decision keeping Libertarian candidates off ballot • Iowa Capital Dispatch

Libertarian candidates running for office in three of Iowa’s congressional districts will not appear on the 2024 general election ballot, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The expedited ruling came just one day after the justices heard oral arguments on the case about whether candidates Nicholas Gluba in 1st Congressional District, Marco Battaglia in the 3rd District and Charles Aldrich in the 4th District would be put back on the ballot. The Libertarian congressional candidates were removed in late August by the State Objections Panel in a 2-1 decision over the state party’s failure to conduct its nominating process in accordance with state law.

Iowa voters, several of whom hold GOP leadership positions in the state, challenged the three candidates’ nominations on the basis that the Libertarian Party of Iowa held its county conventions too early for delegates to take action. The state Libertarian Party, which regained major party status in 2022, held both its precinct caucuses and county conventions Jan. 15.

Iowa Code states convention delegates elected at precinct caucuses do not officially take the position until the following day, meaning these conventions — as well as the June 8 special nominating conventions — were improper, the objectors argued.

The state panel sided with the voters’ objections, removing the three congressional candidates from the ballot. Gluba, Battaglia and Aldrich asked for judicial review of the decision — after a district court judge upheld the panel’s decision Saturday, the case moved to the state Supreme Court.

In Tuesday arguments, attorneys representing the Libertarian candidates said the county conventions were not conducted in full accordance with state law, but that the process was done with “substantial” compliance that should meet the state’s standards for getting candidates onto the ballot. However, attorneys representing the panel and objecting voters said “strict” compliance with Iowa laws should be enforced to ensure “regularity” in the nominating and election processes.

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the district court’s decision in the Wednesday ruling. The state Supreme Court decision stood with the interpretation that “strict” compliance is required with the Iowa Code involving partisan nominations.

“Gluba, Battaglia, and Aldrich could have qualified for the November general election ballot by filing nomination petitions with signatures like the other political party candidates,” justices wrote in the decision. “They relied instead on an alternative procedure afforded by Iowa law. Having done so, they had to be in compliance with that procedure. In sum, like the district court, we find that strict compliance was required and the Libertarian Party did not comply.”

Jennifer DeKock, the lawyer representing Battaglia, argued Tuesday that Libertarian county conventions were conducted just over three hours — 181 minutes — prior to when the process would have complied with state law, beginning at midnight.

“Does the failure to wait 181 minutes after caucus to begin convention justify kicking Libertarian candidates off the ballot, and violating Iowa voters’ constitutional rights to political opportunity?” DeKock asked.

The justices state that the argument that the rule requiring precinct caucuses and county conventions are held on separate days is “arbitrary and hyper-technical” could apply to many of the rules governing elections.

“Why require forty-seven signatures from at least half of the counties?” the opinion stated. “Why should that matter if a candidate has several thousand signatures and the entire district elects the representative? Gluba, Battaglia, and Aldrich do not contend that the two-day requirement would have been too burdensome for the Libertarian Party to meet; it just wasn’t met here.”

The decision came quickly by request of the Iowa Secretary of State’s office, which must certify ballots for the upcoming Nov. 5 election. While the ballots were initially supposed to be certified Sept. 3, the district court judge overseeing the Libertarians’ court challenge granted a temporary injunction on finalizing the ballots.

With the Iowa Supreme Court decision, the state office will be able to move forward with finalizing the candidates appearing on the 2024 general election ballots in time for Sept. 21, when ballots must be certified and ready for overseas and military voters.

While the candidates will not appear on state ballots, all three congressional candidates plan to move forward with write-in campaigns for the general election, Battaglia and Aldrich told reporters Tuesday.