Libertarians running for governor and for the U.S. House have asked a judge to intervene so their names may appear on the November ballot.
The Iowa Secretary of State says the Libertarian Party did not properly nominate replacement candidates in those two races. Libertarian Jake Heard, an attorney from Urbandale, is hoping to get cleared to run against Republican Congressman Zach Nunn and Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott in the third district. “When you limit it to just Democrats and Republicans it gives you a false choice,” Heard said, “and a false premise that there’s only two solutions.”
Republicans successfully challenged Marco Battaglia’s paperwork to be the Libertarian candidate in the third congressional district, arguing he should be running under his legal name, Mark Andersen. A judge is expected to rule by the end of this week if Heard will be able to run in the district instead. “It shouldn’t be that tough to let the people of Iowa choose,” Heard said. “…There’s a lot of close races allegedly this year and Republicans don’t want Iowans to have any other option.”
Heard argues blocking third party candidates from the ballot preserves a failing two party-system. “When you vote for the person that has a D or an R next to their name, you’re voting for the D or R. You’re not voting for the person,” Heard said. “The candidate is nearly the vessel by which the Democratic or Republican Party gets in control.”
Nicholas Gluba, a Libertarian who collected over 8000 petition signatures to run for governor this year, is also challenging his removal from the ballot. Gluba’s original running mate was disqualified due to missed paperwork and Libertarians met online earlier this month to nominate another person for lieutenant governor. “We have faced huge, huge issues in the state of Iowa where one party has decided, ‘We don’t like those guys. We need to do everything we possibly can to keep them off the ballot,'” Gluba said.
Gluba and Heard made their comments during speeches at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the State Fair. Two other Libertarian candidates have qualified for the November election. Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn is running for the U.S. Senate and Rick Stewart of Cedar Rapids is running in Iowa’s second congressional district.