Former Rep. Abby Finkenauer can now rest easy. Iowa’s state Supreme Court just overturned a lower court ruling that would have knocked the leading Democrat off the primary ballot for Senate.
As the Washington Examiner’s Kate Scanlon explains, Iowa requires statewide candidates to gather at least 3,500 signatures on their nomination petitions, including “at least 100 signatures from at least 19 counties to qualify for the ballot.” A lower court had thrown Finkenauer off the ballot because three (yes, that’s a three, as in Larry, Curly, and Moe) apparently invalid signatures in two counties put her below the required number. Republican election officials on the complaint panel had been willing to give Finkenauer a pass, but two citizen complainants appealed.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court let Finkenauer off on a technicality. The law in question doesn’t allow petition signatures to be challenged based on the lack of a date or an incorrect date, as these three signatures were. In the end, it’s probably better for everyone that the state is allowing a credible alternative to their sitting senator onto the ballot (even if that sitting senator is the beloved Chuck Grassley) instead of going full partisanship. This isn’t Barack Obama’s Chicago, after all.
But when you’re running for high office, and this is a six-year Senate term we’re talking about here, you’re supposed to put things far beyond doubt in terms of qualifying from the ballot. You owe that much to your supporters and your state party. If you need to gather 100 signatures from 19 counties, you gather at least twice that many in all 19, just in case. Maybe you gather 200 signatures in a few extra counties while you’re at it.
In Finkenauer’s case, her campaign gathered “more than 5,000” signatures statewide but just barely enough (100 in Allamakee County and 101 in Cedar County) in two of her 19 counties where she was supposed to be submitting 100. That’s way too close for comfort.
This should never have come down to just three signatures — it evinces a very weak effort on the candidate’s part. Iowa has drifted quickly into the Republican column since 2012. Given that 2022 is shaping up as a good Republican year, and that Democrats have a big hole at the top of the ballot in Iowa’s governor’s race, this does not inspire confidence in Finkenauer’s chances this fall.
