The Iowa Supreme Court upheld a state panel’s decision to boot three Iowa Libertarian Congressional hopefuls from the ballot in an expedited ruling on Wednesday. 

The unanimous opinion reaffirms the state district court’s decision and the State Objection Panel’s ruling, which found the Iowa Libertarian party did not follow state election laws regarding precinct and county conventions. 

With the ruling, Nicholas Gulba of the 1st Congressional District, Marco Battaglia of the 3rd District, and Charles Aldrich of the 4th District will no longer appear on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. 

However, all three have previously committed to running write-in campaigns if they weren’t victorious in their legal challenge. 

In the opinion, the court rejected all of the candidates’ arguments. This included arguments that objectors did not have legal standing, the section of Iowa law that pertains to objections is only for primary elections, and the party should have been allowed to correct their errors because they were technical. 

The court also rejected the candidate’s argument that the section of Iowa code that deals with objections and election law requires “substantial compliance” and not “strict compliance.”

The decision comes as the race in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts continues to tighten with the Cook Political Report moving their rating from “Likely Republican” to “Leaning Republican” earlier this month. 

The absence of a Libertarian candidate on the ballot could make a difference in close races, which are expected in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts. 

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, was a first-term incumbent who won by less than 2,000 votes in 2022 with no Libertarian candidate on the ballot.