FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (August 28, 2024)
Iowa Libertarian Party to Appeal State Objection Panel’s Partisan Decision Removing Candidates from November Ballot
Des Moines, Iowa (08/28/2024) – The Libertarian Party of Iowa announced today that it will appeal the Iowa State Objections Panel’s decision to remove its three congressional candidates from the November 2024 ballot. The panel, composed of two Republicans and one Democrat, voted 2-1 to uphold challenges to the candidacies of Nicholas Gluba (1st District), Marco Battaglia (3rd District), and Charles Aldrich (4th District). The objections were filed by Republican voters and centered around technicalities in the party’s nomination process.
“This is about silencing us,” said Libertarian Party of Iowa Chair Jules Cutler at a news conference following the panel’s decision. “This is about silencing voices. This is about controlling who we can and cannot vote for.”
The objections claimed that the Libertarian Party failed to follow state procedures when nominating its candidates, citing issues such as the timing of county conventions and the notification of county auditors. Despite acknowledging minor procedural errors, Cutler argued that the party was “substantially compliant with the law” and that these technicalities should not be used to deny voters their choice in November.
The lone dissenting voice on the panel, Democratic Auditor Rob Sand, emphasized that the panel’s role should be to expand, not restrict, voter choices. “Our job here is not to err on the side of kicking people off the ballot,” Sand stated. “Our job is to err on the side of keeping them on.”
The Libertarian Party of Iowa is confident that an impartial court will recognize the strength of their case and restore the candidates to the ballot. “This ruling is more about partisan politics than about following the law,” said Cutler. “We will fight this all the way to ensure that the people of Iowa have the freedom to choose their representatives.”
The Libertarian Party of Iowa is committed to America’s heritage of freedom: individual liberty and personal responsibility, a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity, a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.
For media inquiries or additional information, please contact:
Libertarian Party of Iowa
Email: info@lpia.org
Phone: (515) 423-0093
