Des Moines, Iowa — A woman who ran against Steve King for the Republican nomination for his seat in Congress last time has objected to King’s filing paperwork and to that of three others. But a state panel has dismissed the challenges.
The State Objection Panel, which is comprised of Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Auditor of State Rob Sand, convened electronically Tuesday afternoon to consider nine objections filed against primary election candidates.
Cyndi Hanson of Sioux City objected to Congressman King’s filing paperwork, and that of candidates Randy Feenstra, Bret Richards, and Jeremy Taylor.
Hanson mainly objected to the names of circulators on the nomination papers, saying that the names were not the names of people who actually gathered the signatures, but were the names of campaign staffers.
The panel said that the rules should be liberally construed in favor of ballot access. Attorney General Miller says that state law does not specifically say that signatures have to be obtained while the circulator is present. He went on to say that other states that do make that necessary specifically spell that out in the law, specifying a “requirement of presence.”
Hanson also filed several challenges on the duplication of names, wrong dates, and other information, which were all dismissed. She said that Feenstra used “Randy Feenstra” on filing forms, but “Randall Feenstra” on a Federal Election Commission form. That too was dismissed.
The panel also considered challenges from others on other primary candidates. All were dismissed except one, in which a candidate for the Republican nomination for a State House of Representatives district in south-central Iowa was found not to be a registered Republican.
