Rock Rapids, Iowa — Lyon County Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep’s name will appear on the general election ballot — as a Libertarian.
Iowa State Patrol Trooper Brian Hilt won the Republican primary for Lyon County Sheriff in June. But since one person wrote his challenger — Vander Stoep’s — name on a Libertarian ballot, Vander Stoep became the Libertarian candidate, verified by a 2-to-1 vote by an objections panel, made up of two members of the Lyon County Board of Supervisors and the Lyon County Recorder.
After that decision, Hilt filed a lawsuit seeking judicial review to reverse their decision, calling it “arbitrary,” “illogical,” and “based on an erroneous interpretation.”
Iowa Third District Judge Charles K Borth disagrees. After a hearing before the judge on Monday, Borth rendered his decision on Tuesday. In the decision, Judge Borth writes, “…the Objections Panel properly interpreted and applied the Iowa election laws.”
He also writes, “Hilt… makes further argument as to why he believes Vander Stoep did not satisfy [Iowa Code] section 43.66. In essence, he argues that because there was no preceding primary election for the Libertarian Party, all of [the] variables in the 35% formula cannot be filled, thereby resulting in failure to meet this statutory qualification. He argues that there must be a minimum baseline of votes. In other words, he argues it was the intent of the legislature to have a minimum number of votes to protect the interests of the party from situations such as occurred here with a single write-in candidate with no apparent prior connection to the Libertarian Party. While Hilt’s position is arguably supported by common sense, it is not supported by statute.”
Judge Borth says Hilt also misinterpreted the law. He says, “”Hilt’s reliance upon the latter provisions of section 43.66, not cited above, is misplaced. Those provisions, by the statute’s very terms, apply only to write-in candidates for the general assembly. The court is not inclined to interpose those formulas upon a county sheriff’s primary when not so provided by statute.”
The judge ordered that “the decision of the Lyon County Objections Panel is hereby affirmed.”
