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A state judge has ruled that former Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer will be removed from the Iowa Democratic Senate primary ballot after failing to meet the state’s signature requirement.
“The ruling late Sunday night, which reverses a state panel’s decision, is a major setback for Finkenauer, who is competing for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley. Finkenauer, who has been widely considered the frontrunner in the Democratic primary, said Monday she would appeal the decision to the Iowa Supreme Court, casting it as ‘deeply partisan,'” the Des Moines Register reported.
Polk County District Judge Scott Beattie threw out three signatures that dropped Finkenauer below a requirement that candidates submit 100 signatures from 19 counties. Finkenauer may appeal the ruling, but the Iowa Secretary of State has said she must do so before April 15.
The primary will be held on June 7 and absentee voting will begin on May 18.
NEW: Former congresswoman Abby Finkenauer cannot appear on Iowa's June 7 Democrat primary ballot for U.S. Senate. A judge ruled yesterday she failed to meet the legal signature requirement. Appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court expected.
— Jeff Stein (@iowapolitics) April 11, 2022
An Iowa court judge has ruled that Democrat Abby Finkenauer cannot appear on the June primary ballot for U.S. Senate, potentially knocking off the candidate considered by many to be the party’s best chance to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley.https://t.co/sY2nSl7hvE
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 11, 2022
“Our campaign submitted more than 5,000 signatures, 1,500 more signatures than are required to qualify for the ballot. We are confident that we have met the requirements to be on the ballot,” the Finkenauer campaign said in a statement.
“We are exploring all of our options to fight back hard against this meritless partisan attack, and to ensure that the voices of Iowans will be heard at the ballot box.”
Finkenauer, who represented Iowa’s First District from 2019 to 2021 before losing her re-election bid to Republican Ashley Hinson, says she will appeal the decision.
“In a massive gift to Washington Republicans, this partisan decision overrules both the Republican secretary of state’s office and the bipartisan panel, ignores decades of precedent, interferes in the electoral process, and makes a mockery of our democracy,” Finkenauer said of the judge’s ruling.
Last month, a state panel found Finkenauer met the requirement, but Republicans argued the panel incorrectly allowed three signatures that did not include the date.
Judge Beattie disagreed with the panel’s interpretation of the law and ruled that the signatures should not be allowed to count.
“The Court takes no joy in this conclusion,” Beattie wrote. “This Court should not be in the position to make a difference in an election, and Ms. Finkenauer and her supporters should have a chance to advance her candidacy. However, this Court’s job is to sit as a referee and apply the law without passion or prejudice. It is required to rule without consideration of the politics of the day.”
“It does not say that the date may be inferred or extrapolated from the context,” Beattie wrote. “The plain and obvious meaning is that the signature should be accompanied by a date indicating when it was signed. Failure to include the date means the signature is not valid.”
Alan Ostergren, an attorney for the Republican challengers, called the ruling “a victory for the rule of law.”
“The judge’s order carefully analyzed the requirement under Iowa law that a petition signature is dated by the signer. He agreed with our argument that the panel could not simply ignore that requirement,” Ostergren said in a statement. “This is a victory for the rule of law. Iowans expect candidates to follow state law and to follow the same rules as the hundreds of other candidates who successfully qualified to be on the ballot.”
Kollin Crompton, communications director for the Republican Party of Iowa, accused Democrats of questioning the integrity of Iowa’s election system.
“For people who have spent a whole year lecturing others on how words are violence and how dangerous rhetoric can be, attacking our judicial system in an attempt to cover up for campaign failures is pretty rich,” Crompton said in a statement.
