U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer will appeal a judge’s ruling that says she cannot appear on Iowa’s June 7 Democratic primary ballot — a decision that has upended one of the state’s highest-profile political contests six weeks before early voting is set to begin.
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.”
“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.
The state’s seven-member supreme court has agreed to hear oral arguments in the case Wednesday and will likely issue a decision by the end of the week so election administrators can begin printing ballots to meet a federal deadline for overseas voters.
Judge found signatures for Finkenauer were invalid
A pair of Republicans brought the challenge against Finkenauer, saying she failed to properly qualify for the ballot because she did not submit enough valid signatures on her nominating petitions.
More:Abby Finkenauer’s place on the Iowa primary ballot is being challenged. Here’s what to know.
A state panel last month found Finkenauer met the requirement, but Republicans argued the panel incorrectly allowed three signatures — one in Allamakee County and two in Cedar County — that did not include the date.
Polk County District Judge Scott Beattie said the panel’s interpretation of the law was incorrect and 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.”
U.S. Senate candidates were required to submit at least 3,500 valid signatures on their nominating petitions, including at least 100 signatures in 19 different counties. Finkenauer’s campaign submitted more than 5,000 signatures overall, but after the state panel meeting, she was left with just enough signatures to meet the 19-county requirement.
Beattie ruled that the Allamakee County signature and the two Cedar County signatures at issue weren’t valid and that without them Finkenauer failed to qualify for the primary ballot. One signature had an incorrect date. Another had no date. And for one, the signer wrote their ZIP code.
The panel, citing its past precedent, found that it was clear when the petitions were signed because of the dates written next to the previous and subsequent signatures on the petitions.
More:Who’s best suited to take on Chuck Grassley? Democratic candidates make their cases
But Beattie wrote that the law requires each signer to include the date with their signature in order for it to count.
“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.”
Beattie was appointed as a judge in 2018 by Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican.
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.”
Finkenauer, a former U.S. representative, is competing for the Democratic nomination against Mike Franken, a retired Navy admiral, and Glenn Hurst, a doctor and Minden city council member.
Finkenauer was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, defeating Republican U.S. Rep. Rod Blum. Two years later, she lost her reelection bid to Republican Ashley Hinson. She has led the Democratic field in fundraising.
The Republican challengers are Kim Schmett, a former chair of the Polk County Republicans, and Leanne Pellett, co-chair of the Cass County Republicans.
Appeal must be decided quickly so primary ballots can be printed
Finkenauer’s appeal will have to be resolved quickly. The Iowa secretary of state’s office has said it needs a decision “on or about” April 15 to finalize ballots so they can be printed and sent to military and overseas voters. Under federal law, those voters must be sent their ballots at least 45 days before an election, which for Iowa’s June 7 primary would be April 23.
The State Objection Panel, which decided the signature challenge in Finkenauer’s favor last month, is also appealing Beattie’s decision to the Iowa Supreme Court.
The Iowa attorney general’s office filed a notice of appeal Monday afternoon on behalf of the panel, which is made up of Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican; Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat; and State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat.
In his ruling, Beattie said the panel’s precedents aren’t legally binding and don’t have to be followed by Iowa judges and that the panel was wrong to say “substantial compliance” with the law’s requirements is enough to allow the signatures to count.
Democrats decry ruling; Republicans accuse them of questioning election integrity
Some Iowa Democrats joined Finkenauer in criticizing Beattie’s ruling Monday.
“I believe that this ruling is an unnecessary and dangerous injection of partisan politics into the ballot qualification process,” said Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville. “And that I hope that the Iowa Supreme Court hears this case soon and overturns this decision and protects Rep. Finkenauer’s access to 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.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.