4th District Libertarian candidate Charles Aldrich calls ballot challenges ‘inaccurate’
Charles Aldrich, the Libertarian candidate in Iowa's 4th congressional district, spoke at the Des Moines Register's Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair Aug. 11, 2024. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)Charles Aldrich, the Libertarian running in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, told reporters at the Iowa State Fair Sunday that he was not concerned about challenges to Libertarian candidates appearing on state ballots.
Iowa voters affiliated with Republican politics have challenged the candidacy of three Iowa Libertarian candidates — Aldrich, 3rd Congressional District candidate Marco Battaglia, who spoke earlier Sunday and 1st Congressional District candidate Nicholas Gluba — on the basis that the Libertarian Party of Iowa did not hold county conventions to nominate congressional candidates.
While other Libertarians, including Battaglia and presidential candidate Chase Oliver, spoke about the challenges in their speeches at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox, Aldrich said the issue was not “really worth mentioning, because in my opinion, it was inaccurate to start with.”
“This is something that — what they’re challenging is that we didn’t have county participation in getting us on the ballot, and we did,” Aldrich said. “We elected people that would come to the next convention, because we had the convention earlier in the year, elected the people to come to the most recent convention after the primary, and select who’s going to be on the ballot for open positions. So what they’re saying is inaccurate.”
The challenges will be heard by the three-person State Objection Panel on Aug. 28, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.
If the challenge is defeated, Aldrich will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra and Democrat Ryan Melton for the 4th District seat in November. Melton, who spoke at the state fair Sunday, offered his support for Libertarian candidates being on the ballot.
“The Republican leadership in the state is challenging the ballot access of my friends here, Marco and Chuck. And, you know, I think the voters deserve as much choice as we should give them,” Melton said. “And so the fact that the Republican Party is trying to put a halt to that, it’s awful, and I’ll do whatever I can to help you guys out.”
Aldrich said during his soapbox speech that he was running for office because the federal government is “not adhering to the Constitution.” He criticized Feenstra for writing legislation that he said violates constitutional standards.
Feenstra, the incumbent Republican, is favored by election forecasters to win in the longtime conservative district.
While Aldrich called for scaling back the federal government — calling for the elimination of federal taxation system and the U.S. Department of Education — he also said the U.S. government is not fulfilling its duty to protect the southern border.
“The people that are coming in are not being vetted,” he said.
Update: This story has been edited with information from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office on the scheduled date of the State Objection Panel.
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