34 Iowa candidates will not be on the November ballot after city, school officers miss deadline

DES MOINES — Thirty-four school board and city candidates across seven counties will not be listed on the ballot in the November election due to errors made by filing officers, according to Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate.

Pate on Wednesday said the candidates will need to begin write-in campaigns after school board secretaries and city clerks failed to submit candidate filing paperwork by the noon deadline on Sept. 19. The impacted jurisdictions include six cities and three school districts.

State code requires school board secretaries and city clerks to deliver all candidate nomination petitions to the county auditor’s office the day after the last day that the petitions can be filed. The last day to file petitions for the Nov. 4 city and school elections was Sept. 18.

Pate said these errors were made despite “extensive” training sessions on filing guidelines, where resources listing the deadlines were provided.

“We are disappointed to hear of the errors made by multiple school board secretaries and city clerks, considering we have provided these officials with extensive training resources and conducted detailed training sessions,” Pate said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that the affected candidates will be required to undergo write-in campaigns due to errors made by the filing officers, but it is the duty of our office, the county auditor’s office, and the filing officer to adhere to Iowa law.”

Jake Tornholm, a Williamsburg city council member running for re-election, is one of the candidates whose name will not appear on the ballot due to the filing error. He said the situation is “disappointing,” but he will continue his campaign as a write-in candidate.

“It is deeply frustrating to know that despite meeting all filing requirements, my name will not appear on the ballot due to mistakes beyond my control,” Tornholm said in a statement. “I will continue my campaign as a write-in candidate and, as a current city council member, will also take steps to help ensure that this type of mistake does not happen again.”

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One of the three impacted school districts is the New Hampton Community School District in Chickasaw County, where three school board seats are up for election in November. There are currently four candidates running for election, three of whom are incumbents.

Superintendent Erik Smith said the district barely missed the filing deadline, by roughly 15 minutes, and said they will work to inform voters and candidates of the rules for write-ins.

“We're going to do our best as a district to ensure that we inform everybody of who the candidates are, the rules when it comes to write-ins, and to ensure that all the rules are followed,” Smith said. “I wish I had a better story. But there's little things where it is what it is, there's a deadline, and we've got to follow it, and we miss it, and now we just have to find the way to best move forward with the situation. And we are putting that plan in place.”

Impacted cities and school districts are:

Calhoun County

Chickasaw County

Clinton County

Davis County

Fayette County

Ida County

Iowa County

Gazette Des Moines Bureau Chief Erin Murphy contributed to this report.