PostgreSQL OR condition not executing if one of them is true

Question

My 2nd 'and' is throwing an error. I'm checking to see if either: 1.) dateRange1.value.start does not exist OR 2.) dateRange1.value.start is >= my job_start variable. #2 works when I have a value present in dateRange1.value.start, but when it's empty (ie; !dateRange1.value.start), I'm getting a "invalid input syntax for type date" error. The same exact type of statement works directly above where I'm checking the jobNameFilter.value. Why is this causing issues for my dateRange1.value.start?

SELECT
  id,
  user_id, 
  job_name,
  job_start,
  job_end
from jobs
where ({{ !jobNameFilter.value }} or lower(job_name) like {{ '%' + jobNameFilter.value.toLowerCase() + '%' }})
  and ({{ !dateRange1.value.start }} or date(job_start) >= {{ dateRange1.value.start }})
  and user_id = {{loginSuccessID.value}}
order by job_start;