Ballot Debacle Shakes Up Democratic House Primary in Iowa

Roll Call:

The Democratic primary in Iowa’s 3rd District looks quite different Thursday morning. One of the top candidates dropped out of the race Wednesday night over an issue with signatures required to secure a spot on the ballot, potentially shaking up the contest.

With businesswoman Theresa Greenfield ending her campaign, the Democratic field of candidates to take on two-term Republican incumbent David Young is down to three. At one point, seven contenders were running or considering jumping in.

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In Iowa, if a candidate does not garner 35 percent of the vote in the June 5 primary, the nominee is decided at a party convention. That means candidates also have to court delegates in preparation for that possibility, while also running a primary campaign. With fewer candidates to split the primary vote, the convention becomes less of a possibility.

Uncertainty has hung over the southwest Iowa race for the past two weeks as Democrats decided whether Greenfield could still compete in the primary. The night before the March 16 filing deadline, she discovered her campaign manager had forged some of the signatures that accompanied her candidate petition, according to the Des Moines Register. So she withdrew her petition and scrambled to collect all new signatures to refile in less than 24 hours. But in the end, she fell 198 signatures short of the 1,790 required.