A federal judge recently ruled that part of an Iowa law that was passed in 2019 as unconstitutional for certain candidates to run for political office.

The law required any third party or independent candidate to submit their nomination forms by March to be on the November general election ballot, whereas the Republican and Democratic parties had until August. The Iowa Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit and a federal judge ruled that to be unconstitutional. Now any third party or independent candidate has until August to file nominations for the general election.

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn is the highest elected Libertarian to hold a public office in Iowa and he tells Raccoon Valley Radio he is happy that they won their lawsuit against the Secretary of State’s office.

“So this was a very clear example of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party attempting to entrench themselves in Des Moines and to make it difficult, if not impossible, for third party candidates to get on to the ballot in the general election in November.”  

Laehn is thankful that this federal court decision makes it fair for any qualified individual to run for office.

“We believe the highest authority in any territory should be the people themselves. But if we are now in a regime in which the two parties (Republicans and Democrats) are the gatekeepers, that you cannot ascend to elected office unless you are approved and chosen by the two parties, then the people are no longer running the show. The two parties are the ones who totally control the government.”        

Laehn adds that if the Libertarian Party receives more than two-percent of statewide votes in the November general election, they will regain their major political party status, like they had during the 2016 election and then lost it again in 2018.