A Georgia administrative judge has recommended that four independent and third-party candidates be excluded from the November ballot.
On August 26, Judge Michael Malihi’s recommendations set the stage for disqualifying independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, along with Jill Stein of the Green Party and Claudia De la Cruz of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The final decision now lies with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who must make a decision before the state begins mailing ballots to military and overseas voters on September 17.
If Raffensperger affirms the recommendations, Georgia voters will only have Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, Republican former President Donald Trump, and Libertarian Chase Oliver on the ballot. The last time Georgia had candidates other than a Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian was in 2000, when Pat Buchanan qualified.
Georgia is a key battleground state where Democrats and their allies have challenged the candidacies of independent and third-party candidates.
Although none of these four candidates are expected to win Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, they are seen as potential vote-splitters for Trump or Harris. In the 2020 election, President Joe Biden won the state by a narrow margin of fewer than 12,000 votes.
In their challenge, Georgia Democrats accused De la Cruz, Kennedy, Stein, and West of failing to “faithfully observe Georgia’s election laws.”
The lawsuit alleges that all four candidates improperly submitted their own names to state election officials instead of the names of their state electors, who are supposed to cast the official votes. It also claims that the Georgia electors for each candidate failed to pay the required state qualifying fees.
“None of these candidates are qualified to be on the Georgia ballot,” said Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye, executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia.
Until this year, the only method to secure a spot on the Georgia ballot was by collecting signatures from 7,500 registered voters. However, Georgia’s Republican-led Legislature has enacted a new law requiring the Secretary of State to also include on the ballot any political party or political body that qualifies in at least 20 other states.
According to Raffensperger’s office, the campaigns for Kennedy, West, and De la Cruz each submitted more than the required number of signatures before the deadline. In contrast, Stein’s campaign relied on the new law to gain access to the Georgia ballot.
In the cases of De la Cruz, Kennedy, and West, Judge Malihi sided with the Democrats, agreeing that petitions for independent and third-party candidates must be filed under the names of the 16 presidential electors, not the candidates themselves.
“In Georgia, independent candidates do not themselves qualify for the office of president and vice president of the United States of America for the ballot,” the judge wrote, citing a 2017 state election law.
“Rather, individuals seeking the office of presidential elector qualify for the ballot to have their candidate for president or vice president placed on the ballot.”
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