Three Libertarian Party candidates face challenges that could block their names from being added to the General Election ballot.
Nicholas Gluba of Lone Tree collected about 8000 signatures on petitions nominating him as a candidate for governor, twice as many as required, but a challenge filed by a Republican voter says there are errors on his paperwork. “It’s the same every time Libertarians run a statewide or for a higher election. The Republican Party is always going to challenge us,” Gluba said. “We just have to meet the challenges head on.”
The challenge to Gluba’s filing says Gluba’s home address is misspelled, with an extra “H” thrown into the street name and his running mate is listed as Jules Cutler, when her legal name is Julia Cutler. “Countless different politicians of various levels go by a nickname of some sort on the ballot,” Gluba said. “Whether you’re talking about Chuck Grassley whose actual name is Charles Grassley, Jules actual name is Julia, but everybody has always referred to her as Jules for decades at this point.”
Libertarian Marco Battaglia of Des Moines filed to run in Iowa’s third congressional district, but two voters in the district have filed a challenge, saying he should be using his legal name, which is Mark T. Anderson. The candidate told The Des Moines Register Marco Battaglia is his stage name, like former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, which was not his legal name. Libertarian Rick Stewart, running in Iowa’s second congressioal district, also faces a challenge, accused of listing his name as Richard rather than Rick on some of the paperwork submitted to qualify for the ballot. Stewart, Battaglia and Gluba are all seeking to run in races for the U.S. House and for governor where Republican candidates face well-funded Democrats.
The State Objection Panel will meet Monday.