DES MOINES, IA – Iowa voters have acted, giving 4% of their votes to Presidential Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. This is exceeds the 2% of votes needed for the State of Iowa to recognize the Libertarian Party as a full-status political party. Iowans will see the difference in the 2018 primaries.

“Voters ask us why they don’t hear about Libertarian candidates until late in an election,” said Campaigns and Elections Chair James Schneider. “Our candidates have been campaigning for months, but they have not been allowed to file their candidacy papers until August – and often the media and polls do not acknowledge a candidate until papers are filed.” As a Political Party, Libertarians will now be able to file for office before primary elections.

State Party Chair Keith Laube said, “We thank our candidates, dedicated volunteers and party members. They helped to inform voters about Libertarian values of personal freedoms and a smaller more efficient government, while caring for families and small businesses.” Mr. Laube added, “With the Libertarian Party obtaining political party status, the 2016 general election was a win for Iowa citizens. In the future there will be more ideas regarding the issues and less time spent on partisan politics.”

Political party status is a legal definition established by Iowa Code. Entering the 2016 election, the Libertarian Party in Iowa was considered a non-party political organization (NPPO). Iowa voters could start registering as a Libertarian in 2008 and the current total number of registered Libertarians in Iowa is almost 10,000.

Keith Laube, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Iowa