Iowa’s Supreme Court Keeps Libertarian Congressional Candidates Off the Ballot
The Iowa Supreme Court this week upheld a decision made by a State Objections Panel last month that barred three Libertarian federal congressional candidates from the ballot in November. The long litigious process began in January when the Libertarian Party of Iowa (LPIA) held its precinct caucuses and county conventions on the same day.
According to Iowa law, delegates are elected at these precinct caucuses and then participate in county conventions which select delegates for the state convention. That process resulted in the nominations of Nicholas Gluba, Marco Battaglia, and Charles Aldrich for Iowa’s 1st, 3rd, and 4th congressional districts, respectively, during the LPIA’s state convention held in June.Â
Months later, Republicans from the districts with Libertarian opponents challenged the process, initially alleging that the Libertarians had skipped county conventions and moved directly from precinct caucuses to the state convention, in violation of Iowa law. This led to a State Objections Panel hearing late last month to determine if the LPIA had held proper county conventions.Â
According to the appellate brief, a day before the hearing the objection shifted from whether the LPIA had a county convention at all to whether they adhered to the legal requirement to hold precinct caucuses and county conventions on different days. This undermined the evidence the LPIA had prepared addressing that earlier, distinct question.
By Iowa law, delegates do not officially start their terms until the day after they are elected, so the LPIA delegates who selected the delegates for the state convention weren’t legally delegates yet. Had the LPIA delayed their conventions by just 181 minutes, they would have met the legal requirements.
The State Objections Panel, voting 2–1, disqualified the Libertarian candidates. (The two voting against the Libertarians were the two Republicans on the panel.) An appeal was filed two days later, and a temporary injunction was granted the following week, just before Iowa’s secretary of state planned to certify the ballots. The appeals judge upheld the disqualification, leaving the Iowa Supreme Court as the final chance Libertarians had to appear on the ballot.Â
During the oral arguments
Article from Reason.com
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