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Abby Finkenauer will appear on the Democratic primary ballot, Supreme Court rules

['Katie Akin', 'More From Author', '- April']

Date: 2022-04-15 00:00:00


U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer is eligible to appear on the Democratic primary ballot, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The Supreme Court overturned a district court decision to bar Finkenauer from the ballot due to three undated or incorrectly dated signatures. In the court’s majority opinion, the justices argued Iowa law sets out a very specific list of requirements for signatures — and dates are not mandatory.

“The legislature did not include missing or incorrect dates as one of the grounds for sustaining an objection to a petition,” the decision reads.

The Finkenauer campaign did not immediately release a statement on the ruling. Through the court proceedings, Finkenauer argued the case was a partisan attempt to strike her from the ballot.

I ran for U.S. Senate because of where our democracy was headed—with division, games, and misinformation. Now, the GOP has spent big trying everything to kick me off the ballot, and we took their fight to the Iowa Supreme Court. I will never back down for Iowa and democracy. — Abby Finkenauer (@Abby4Iowa) April 14, 2022

Finkenauer’s candidacy came down to three signatures out of more than 5,000. Two Republicans, Kim Schmett and Leanne Pellett, challenged Finkenauer’s nominating petition over three signatures – one in Allamakee County and two in Cedar County – that were undated or had an incorrect date.

Candidates for the U.S. Senate are required to submit at least 3,500 signatures on their nominating petitions, including at least 100 signatures in at least 19 counties. Without those three signatures, Finkenauer fell below the county threshold, threatening her ability to appear on the June 7 primary ballot.

Read more: Supreme Court hears arguments in Finkenauer ballot case

The Supreme Court cited last year’s major election law as the basis for their decision. The law adds a line to specify that the state should sustain only certain, specific objections to nominating petitions: signatures don’t count if the signature or address is incomplete, or if a signer provides a post office box instead of a home address. The law does not say signatures need to be dated.

“Statutory interpretation is not like proving math theorems, and it is sometimes difficult to come up with a neat answer that is intellectually satisfying,” the decision reads. “In the end, we believe we must be guided by the legislature’s last word on the subject.”

All seven of Iowa’s Supreme Court justices concurred in the opinion, but Justice Christopher McDonald and Justice Dana Oxley said they agreed for a different legal reason. Their opinion was not immediately available online following the ruling.

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