(Radio Iowa) – Challenges have been filed with state election officials, claiming the Libertarian candidates running in three of Iowa’s congressional district are not qualified for the 2024 General Election ballot. Residents in the first, third and fourth congressional districts have signed petitions which allege Libertarians did not hold county conventions as required by law, so the three Libertarian congressional candidates were not properly nominated. The Libertarians say they did have county conventions, just not in every county.

Nicholas Gluba of Lone Tree, the Libertarian candidate in the first congressional district, says the challenges show Republicans are terrified of how Libertarians are appealing to voters. “They want to attack our ability to be on the ballot. They want to attack Iowans’ ability to vote for who they choose. We have to fight against that,” Gluba said. “…When the Republicans decided that they needed to take on the Republican Party, that was an admission of fear. They’re afraid that we’re going to take out the death grip that Republicans hold on the State of Iowa.”

Marco Battaglia of Des Moines, the Libertarian candidate in Iowa’s third congressional district, says Libertarians did have county conventions, they just didn’t have one for each of Iowa’s 99 counties because there were no Libertarian delegates in some counties. “Most of our population is in, like 12 counties,” Battaglia says. “What are we supposed to do in a county that’s never voted Democrat in their life? Why do they want to register as anything else if they want Republicans to keep winning?”

Battaglia says the Republican-led legislature and Republican Governor Kim Reynolds have repeatedly changed election laws to put Libertarians at a disadvantage. “If we’ve got to take this up further up the court system, I think we can kind of dismantle this kind of unfair, rigged game that they’ve got going,” Battaglia said.

Charles Aldrich of Clarion, the Libertarian Party’s candidate in the fourth congressional district, says there was county participation — from counties that have Libertarians. “What they’re saying is inaccurate,” Aldrich says.

The Libertarians were among six congressional candidates who appeared this weekend on the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Democratic candidate Ryan Melton of Nevada, who’s running in the fourth congressional district, says voters deserve as many choices as possible and the G-O-P attempt to toss Libertarians off the November ballot is awful.