Early voting preview, Libertarians fight for ballot access, AEAs losing staff
September 2 "Capitol Week" is online
Happy Labor Day! I’m grateful that Spencer Dirks and our producer, KHOI’s station manager Mike Murphy, were willing to record on a holiday, because we had plenty to talk about as the most intense phase of the general election campaign begins.
The audio from Monday night’s program is at the top of this message, or you can find it on podcast platforms and smart speakers as “KHOI’s Capitol Week.” Our full archive (going back to February 2021) is available on KHOI’s website.
Topics we covered this week:
Republicans have changed Iowa’s voting rules and deadlines many times over the past eight years, so I wanted to remind listeners about what they need to know (and what they need to bring with them) if they plan to vote early, or on election day. You can find more details in my post for Bleeding Heartland. Although early voting won’t begin here until October 16, you can already request an absentee ballot if you want to vote by mail;
If you will be in the state between October 16 and November 4, and you have access to transportation, I recommend voting early in person. You won’t have to worry about slow mail delivery preventing your ballot from being counted. Do your homework on all the candidates before voting early in person, because you can’t take your ballot home to fill out later;
Iowans voting on election day need to bring some form of valid ID, and if they are new registrants or have moved since the last time they voted in Iowa, they also need to bring some proof of address. I listed the main options for proving your identity and address at the polls;
Last Wednesday, I attended the State Objection Panel meeting where Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate and Attorney General Brenna Bird upheld GOP challenges to all three Libertarian candidates for Congress (Nicholas Gluba, Marco Battaglia, and Charles Aldrich). We spent several minutes on this story, because there are a lot of angles worth exploring, and this controversy is likely heading to the Iowa Supreme Court;
I avoid editorializing on the radio show, but State Auditor Rob Sand made a convincing case that the panel should have rejected the GOP challenges for several reasons. I have a deep dive in progress for Bleeding Heartland and am waiting for Battaglia’s attorney to file an appeal in Polk County District Court (the other two Libertarians filed appeals on Friday afternoon);
Can the Libertarians win in court in time to get back on the ballot? I looked back at my coverage of the lawsuit over U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer’s petitions in the spring of 2022. The State Objection Panel met on March 29, Republicans filed suit on March 31, a Polk County judge ruled on April 10, and the Iowa Supreme Court ruled on April 15. So if the District Court acts quickly, this case could reach Iowa’s highest court by mid-September. General election ballots need to be printed by September 21;
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not request to be removed from Iowa’s ballot, even though he’s been fighting to get off the ballot in several swing states;
I was surprised to see a seventh presidential ticket appear on Iowa’s ballot last week. I gave some background on Shiva Ayyadurai (he goes by “Dr. Shiva”) and explained why the Secretary of State’s office accepted his petitions, even though he was born in India and is therefore ineligible to serve as president;
To recap, seven presidential candidates will appear on the Iowa ballot: Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Kamala Harris, Libertarian Chase Oliver, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Socialist Party USA candidate William Stodden, Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate Claudia De la Cruz, and Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai as a no-party candidate. (As I mentioned on last week’s show, the two socialist candidates reminded me of a classic scene from Monty Python’s “The Life of Brian”);
We briefly touched on some additional reaction to conservative Republican Kevin Virgil’s surprising endorsement of Democratic candidate Ryan Melton in Iowa’s fourth Congressional district. You can read more comments from the GOP establishment and Virgil here;
A little-known independent candidate, Jody Puffett, qualified for the ballot in Iowa’s second Congressional district. We haven’t talked as much about IA-02 this year, because neither party had a competitive primary election, and national groups aren’t targeting the race between two-term Republican incumbent Ashley Hinson and Democratic challenger Sarah Corkery. I find Puffett’s candidacy interesting because although she claims no allegiance to either party, her background and issue focus may appeal more to Republicans. I am curious to see whether a significant number of conservatives cast a protest vote against Hinson;
The Iowa Utilities Commission issued a permit to Summit Carbon Solutions for a CO2 pipeline last week. I didn’t expect this to happen so soon. It struck me as important that Summit Carbon mentioned “new markets like sustainable aviation fuel” in its statement about the permit. The company had previously claimed the CO2 transported from ethanol plants would be sequestered in the ground in North Dakota. If and when courts consider whether the Iowa Utilities Commission was correct to allow the use of eminent domain for this project, an important legal question will be whether the carbon dioxide is a commodity for sale like oil or gas;
Top Democratic lawmakers highlighted new data from Iowa’s Area Education Agencies showing big staff reductions since the legislature approved an AEA overhaul this year. The nine AEAs collectively employ 429 fewer staff now than a year ago. Eight of the AEAs have more than 10 percent fewer people on staff now than in August 2023;
Governor Kim Reynolds continues to insist that nothing has changed for the AEAs, but it’s hard to see how AEAs can offer the same level of services with a smaller workforce. Some reporting indicates that rural school districts in particular are unable to afford the same services they used to receive before the governor replaced a 50-year-old system with a fee-for-service model;
University of Northern Iowa swimmer Olivia Chambers won gold in the 400-meter freestyle at the Paralympics in Paris. According to Justin Surrency of WHO-TV, this was the first Olympic or Paralympic medal for a UNI athlete since Bill Smith won a gold in wrestling way back in 1952.
Thank you for reading or listening! Next Monday, Spencer and I will cover lots of other Iowa political news, as well as results for other Iowa athletes at the Paralympics.
Ty Rushing is the latest new columnist in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Check out his debut column for Ty’s Takes. We know it can be hard to keep track of what everyone is writing, so our Sunday morning roundup links to everyone’s posts over the past week. You can sign up here, for free.
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Laura you continue to due a wonderful job keeping us update on political issues. I'm most concerned about transfer of funds from public to private education and the increase in dirty water across Iowa. This will help our tourism industry and also keep people in Iowa when they finish their education. Finally, we want you to come back and speak to our Golden K in July or August.--Bill Sherman
Thanks, Laura. There is so much good, practical information for voters in your column.