The complete list of candidates who’ve qualified for the Iowa Republican and Democratic Party’s Primary Elections on June 2nd is likely to be released later today (Monday) or tomorrow. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.
Friday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for candidates to walk into the Iowa Secretary of State’s office with their nominating paperwork. Republican Eddie Andrews, who’s been campaigning for governor, entered at 4:55 with a group of campaign volunteers carrying petitions they’d been scrambling for over an hour to organize. Andrews filled out his affidavit of candidacy form as a couple of volunteers were still clipping batches of petitions together. “We’re having fun, OK?” Andrews said. That’s Andrews. The volunteer doing most of the organizing joked about the situation as reporters looked on: “We had to have some drama for the press.” Andrews replied: “If there’s no drama, I mean seriously, why would we even try?” When it came to the identity verification part, Andrews used the Capitol I-D card he gets as a member of the state legislature because Andrews left his driver’s license in his car. Before Andrews left the secretary of state’s office, he posed for a photo with the seven people who were part of the deadline sprint. “Thank you guys,” Andrews said and one of his volunteers asked: “Where’s the sparking apple cider?” ANNOUNCER OUT: State election staff worked over the weekend to count signatures and verify if candidates like Andrews who filed near the deadline had qualified for the ballot. Candidates for the U.S. Senate and governor must have the signatures of at least 35-hundred eligible Iowa voters, with at least 100 signatures on petitions from 19 different counties. This is the ninth Primary Election cycle Secretary of State Paul Pate has been overseeing this process.
“There’s always someone who comes in at the last minute and I can understand some of the things they go through trying to get their campaign paperwork together,” Pate said, “but obviously we encourage them to get in here a little earlier since we have a three-week window to file.”
Pate’s staff counts signatures not once but twice to make sure the count is verified, then there’s an objection period where signatures on a candidate’s nominating petitions can be challenged. Julie Stauch (rhymes with “couch”) — a Democrat who’d been running for governor — submitted her nominating petitions on Thursday, but Stauch says was notified by the secretary of state’s office on Friday that she did not meet the signature threshhold. It means State Auditor Rob Sand will be the only candidate for governor on Democrats’ primary ballots.
