Polk County District Judge Scott Beattie ruled earlier this week that Finkenauer’s name “will not be included in the original ballot for the Democratic Senate for the U.S. Senate” due to questions about the signatures she received in two counties. The Finkenauer campaign appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. “We are annulling the decision of the district court and ordering that the application be rejected,” the Supreme Court ruling said. Iowa judges have said the state’s electoral laws – including statutes that focus on eligible candidates last year – did not include missing dates among the reasons why signatures should be excluded. “The date of signing could help verify the petition if the signatory was an eligible voter only for part of the period during which the petition was released, but it is difficult to understand why it would matter in any other context,” she said. court in its decision. Six of the seven judges of the court agreed with the decision. The seventh agreed only with its result, and submitted a separate consensus. The court ruled quickly, with early voting just a few weeks away and officials need time to mail ballots to voters abroad. Finkenaur celebrated the decision on Friday. “The unanimous decision of the Iowa Supreme Court today confirmed that we are right about the law and that we will be on the ballot for the US Senate,” he said. “This is a time for all supporters of democracy – Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike – to celebrate the ongoing strength of our democratic process and to be a reminder that we never take it for granted.” A Republican couple had challenged Finkenhauer’s candidacy, arguing that he had not complied with the state’s signature requirement – 3,500 valid signatures, including at least 100 signatures from at least 19 counties – because three signatures had no dates. The Iowa Opposition Committee, a three-member council that includes the attorney general and state auditor of the Democrats and the Republican secretary of state, voted 2-1 for the party’s lines to keep Finkenauer on the ballot. But late Sunday night, Judge Scott Beatty, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, ruled that he did not meet state requirements and could not appear on the ballot. The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Wednesday. Finkenauer’s lawyer argued that state law did not require candidates to be removed from the ballot if the dates accompanying the signatures were missing. Finkenauer, a former Cedar Rapids MP, was among the first women to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa, winning the 2018 election alongside Democratic Cindy Axne. She became the second youngest woman to be elected to Parliament in history when she won at the age of 29. She lost her re-election two years later to Republican Ashley Hinson. Finkenhauer is the big favorite for the Democrats’ anointing in the primary, which also includes retired Admiral Mike Franken, who ran for the Senate’s other seat in 2020, and Glenn Hurst, a member of the Midden City Council. But the primary winner would be a long-range shot against Grassley, who was first elected to the Senate in 1980. Iowa, once a presidential battlefield, has shifted to the right in recent elections.
