Republicans seek to remove Libertarians from the ballot in 3 Iowa congressional districts

Republicans are challenging all three of Iowa's Libertarian candidates for Congress, arguing the party failed to meet the requirements to appear on the ballot this fall and seeking to have them thrown off.

Those charges are disputed by Libertarian nominees Nicholas Gluba in the 1st District, Marco Battaglia in the 3rd District and Charles Aldrich in the 4th District, who say they followed state law and correctly filed to be on the ballot.

The challenges against the three candidates were brought by Republican county chairs, political candidates and activists. They are represented by Republican attorney Alan Ostergren.

Removing Libertarians from the ballot this fall could avoid the risk of a third-party spoiler in what are expected to be competitive elections in the 3rd and 1st Districts.

Ostergren on Monday declined to comment on the challenges.

Under state law, Iowans can object to a political candidate if they are eligible voters who would be able to cast a ballot for the candidate in question.

The objections allege that the Libertarian Party failed to follow the procedures spelled out in Iowa law for political parties to nominate candidates for office. They say the Libertarian Party failed to notify county auditors of the results of its precinct caucuses, including the names of the people elected as county convention delegates, as required by state law.

"As far as the objectors know, no county conventions were conducted by the party," states the objection to Battaglia's candidacy. "It appears that the Libertarian Party of Iowa went straight from a handful of county caucuses to a state convention that purported to nominate a candidate for the Third Congressional District."

Libertarians qualified for major political party status in 2022 after their gubernatorial nominee earned more than 2% of the vote in that year's general election. The major party designation allows the party to register voters as Libertarians and to hold state-run primary elections. It also requires the parties to follow certain requirements that lay out the rules for holding conventions and nominating candidates.

All three Libertarians were nominated at their state party convention in June, rather than appearing on the ballot in the June 4 primary election.

The Libertarian candidates disputed the accusations over the weekend during appearances at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

"We had conventions," Battaglia told reporters after the Soapbox. "We just couldn't have 99 events overnight."

More: At Soapbox, libertarian congressional candidate Marco Battaglia defends position on ballot

Battaglia, who is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and Democrat Lanon Baccam, urged the challengers to withdraw their objection to his candidacy. They seek to represent the 3rd District, which includes Des Moines and much of south central and southwest Iowa.

"If you want to save taxpayers money and you want to not waste the auditor’s time, not waste the secretary of state’s time, not waste the attorney general’s time, you can withdraw this objection and you can save time and money," he said, referring to the state panel that will hear the challenges later this month.

Gluba, who is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Christina Bohannan, said it's wrong to say Libertarians didn't hold county conventions.

"I was there," Gluba said. "I remember being at a convention. I presided over three of them."

Gluba said the Libertarians held a county convention in Johnson County, where he was reelected as county chair and as a delegate to the party's state convention. The 1st District covers southeast Iowa.

"They want to attack our ability to be on the ballot," Gluba said of Republicans. "They want to attack Iowans’ ability to vote for who they choose. We have to fight against that."

The objections to the three Libertarians filed with the Iowa secretary of state's office include email correspondence between Ostergren and county auditors in each of the three congressional districts. Several auditors told Ostergren that they did not receive any documentation from the Libertarian Party.

More: At Register Soapbox, libertarian candidate Gluba equates presidential powers to a king

Gluba's candidacy was challenged by Dan Smicker, a former chair of the Clinton County Republicans, and Cynthia Yockey, a Fairfield resident who spoke in favor of Vivek Ramaswamy at the Republican caucuses in January.

Battaglia's candidacy was challenged by Trudy Caviness, chair of the Wapello County Republicans, and Elaine Gaesser, president of the Adams County Republican Central Committee.

Aldrich's candidacy was challenged by Jack Sayers, a Republican candidate for the Mills County Board of Supervisors, and Garrett Anderson, chair of the Northwest Iowa Young Republicans. The 4th District covers north central and northwestern Iowa and southwestern Iowa counties bordering the Missouri River.

The three-member State Objection Panel, made up of Secretary of State Paul Pate, Auditor Rob Sand and Attorney General Brenna Bird, will meet at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 28 at the Iowa State Capitol to decide whether to accept or reject the challenges against the candidates.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 3 Iowa Libertarian congressional candidates face GOP ballot challenges