Following the decision from the Iowa Supreme Court about keeping the three Libertarian candidates for the US House off the ballot for this November’s election, the highest elected Libertarian in Iowa is speaking out.

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn was disappointed with the state supreme court when they upheld a complaint that a few Republicans filed that the Libertarian Party failed to adhere to the state code for conducting a political party nomination process. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio, the Libertarian candidates for US House conceded from the beginning that their party’s caucus and county conventions were held on the same night, when Iowa Code 43.94 says the delegates from the caucus do not have authority to nominate candidates until the day after the caucuses are held.

Laehn points out the main legal issue that the Iowa Supreme Court agreed with was that the Libertarian Party did not strictly comply with state code and thus the candidates are invalid to run for US House. Laehn believes the courts acted out of character in this situation.

“It’s an anti-democratic decision that has the effect of limiting democracy in our state. So I was surprised by the outcome because generally when judges are confronted with a legal question where the outcome of the decision will have the effect of either promoting or diminishing the ability of voters to cast votes, they err on the side of democracy.”  

Laehn believes this was a political move by the Republican Party because they see the Libertarian Party as a threat.

“And the only way they could ensure that their (US) House candidates will win this November is by keeping Libertarians off the ballot. So the whole thing was motivated by an effort to prevent Iowa voters from having the option to vote a Libertarian for their (US) House districts.” 

Lahen also thinks this result will possibly have a trickle down effect to where the Libertarian Party may lose its major political party status in Iowa. If the Libertarian candidate for president, Chase Oliver, does not get at least two percent of the total votes in Iowa, then the Libertarian Party is no longer a major political party. Laehn adds that this may happen because some voters who were motivated to cast a ballot for a Libertarian candidate for US House, may not vote at all, leading to a lesser percentage for the Libertarian Party.