Rock Rapids, Iowa — In June, Lyon County Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep was defeated for the Republican nomination for sheriff by Iowa State Patrol trooper Brian Hilt. Since it is a heavily Republican county, and there were no democratic candidates who filed papers, most people assumed it was a foregone conclusion that Brian Hilt would be the next Lyon County Sheriff. Well, a couple of things have happened since then.
Sheriff Vander Stoep says two people filled out Libertarian primary ballots in the June Primary. One of them left the sheriff race blank, but one person filled in Vander Stoep’s name to be the Libertarian nominee. Lyon County Auditor Amy Sprock says that to be selected as the candidate for that party, a nominee must have at least 35 percent of the vote. She says that since only one person voted in that race, 100 percent of the Libertarian vote went to Vander Stoep, thereby making him the Libertarian candidate for Lyon County Sheriff in November.
But Hilt (his Republican primary opponent) filed an objection as a resident and voter of Lyon County, saying one write-in vote shouldn’t choose the nominee for the party.
The code section in question appears to be Iowa Code 43.66.
Vander Stoep’s attorney, Randy Waagmeester of Rock Rapids, says the election laws are full of inconsistencies and to try to take one over and try and apply it to another set of facts is “pretty dangerous.”
As of late afternoon on Wednesday, Vander Stoep told us that the objection had been overruled 2 to 1, so Vander Stoep will be the Libertarian candidate for Lyon County Sheriff In November.
