The Libertarian Party’s new nominee for the 3rd Congressional District race in Iowa gave two reasons to Iowa State Fair attendees for why he shouldn’t have the chance to speak with them on the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox stage.
The first was that Marco Battaglia, the initial Libertarian candidate in the congressional race, was supposed to be up there but didn’t qualify to be placed on the election ballot, as ruled by the State Objections Panel and upheld by a Polk County District Court judge. The second was that Heard himself has not been deemed qualified to run, either.
“The Libertarian State Committee voted about two weeks ago to replace Marco, as well as Nick Gluba and Jules Cutler for the governor and lieutenant governor seats,” Heard said. “When we turned in our nomination papers this last Monday, two days later, the Secretary of State’s Office said that the proper procedure wasn’t filed with their office in time, and therefore he’s not accepting … my candidacy as well as the governor and lieutenant governor’s candidacy to appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.”
