A Polk County District Court judge ruled yesterday that the Libertarian nominee for president, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, met the conditions to qualify for the Iowa general election ballot.
With support from a staffer for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, two Iowa voters objected to Johnson’s ballot access late last month. Attorneys for the two voters filed a court appeal last week after a state panel unanimously concluded that “statutes governing nomination procedures should be liberally construed to the benefit of the electors in order to provide every lawful opportunity for the electors to express their preference at the ballot box.”
Polk County District Court Judge Arthur Gamble echoed that principle when ruling in favor of Johnson’s campaign on September 4. David Pitt reported for the Associated Press,
Gamble concluded Tuesday that the state law governing nominations by third-party candidates does not contain detailed procedural rules established for the major parties intentionally to provide electors not aligned with the two major parties an informal process for the nomination of candidates. The purpose is to provide every lawful opportunity for electors to express their preference at the ballot box, Gamble said.
“This is the essence of democracy,” he wrote.
He said the panel correctly concluded that the activity of the Libertarians at the Iowa State Fair was all that is necessary to meet the caucus requirement.
Alicia Dearn, an attorney representing Johnson’s campaign, said attorneys for the challengers have indicated they’ll likely file an emergency appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. The attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ballots need to be mailed to overseas military personnel by September 22, so if the challengers appeal, the Iowa Supreme Court would have to consider the case within the next few days.
Supporters of Romney have challenged Johnson’s ballot access in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Ohio as well, although the Ohio challenge was withdrawn.
It’s far from clear that having the Libertarian ticket on the ballot would be a net negative for Romney. Most opinion polls do not include Johnson, but Public Policy Polling just found in its latest Colorado survey,
PPP’s first post-convention Colorado poll finds Barack Obama continuing to hold the lead over Mitt Romney in the state, 49-46. […]
We also tested an iteration of the race in Colorado including Libertarian Gary Johnson. He pulls 5% and takes slightly more from Obama than Romney, pushing Obama’s lead down to 46-44 when he’s in the picture.
Colorado may be a special case, in that there’s a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana usage, which is one of Johnson’s signature issues.
UPDATE: As of 11 am on September 5, no appeal has been filed with the Iowa Supreme Court, according to Court Communications Officer Steve Davis.