ATLANTA – Georgia voters are likely to be able to choose from six candidates for president after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Thursday put Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz back on the ballot and ruled that the Green Party's Jill Stein had qualified by another route.
Raffensperger, an elected Republican, overruled findings made last week by an administrative law judge that removed West and De la Cruz. West is running as an independent. De la Cruz is the nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation but has qualified as an independent in Georgia.
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“The Democratic Party wanted to restrict the choices available to Georgia voters because they didn’t want to compete with a socialist campaign that offers real solutions to the huge problems facing working people," De la Cruz said in a statement. "We are proud to have stood up for our rights and the right of everyone in Georgia to vote for the candidate of their choosing.”
Challenges to independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were dismissed as moot after Kennedy sent papers to Georgia on Monday to officially withdraw his name. Kennedy last week said he was suspending his campaign, withdrawing from the ballot in the most competitive states and endorsing Republican Donald Trump.
Democrats who are trying to knock West, De la Cruz and Stein off the ballot said they were considering appealing the decision.
“A judge affirmed that none of these candidates were qualified to be on the Georgia ballot," Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye said in a statement. "The secretary of state ignored the judge’s ruling that found each party failed to play by the rules. State election law is clear, and we are exploring our options.”
Time is running short, though: Georgia mails out military and overseas ballots starting Sept. 17.
If the decisions stand, Georgia voters will have six choices for president: Trump, West, De la Cruz, Stein, Democrat Kamala Harris and Libertarian Chase Oliver. It would be the first time since 1948 that Georgians would have more than four choices for president. Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians automatically qualify for elections in Georgia.
Democrats legally challenged West, De la Cruz, Kennedy and Stein, seeking to block candidates who could siphon votes from Harris after Joe Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020.
Judge Michael Malihi had agreed with arguments made by the state Democratic Party that petitions for independent candidates must be filed in the name of the 16 presidential electors, and not the candidates themselves, citing a change made to Georgia law in 2017.
But Raffensperger, who makes the final decision, said one petition in De la Cruz's or West's name met the requirements of both state law and a 2016 court decision that limits the state to requiring only 7,500 signatures on a petition for statewide office. Counties have found that De la Cruz and West each collected more than the required 7,500 signatures.
Georgia is one of several states where Democrats and allied groups have filed challenges to third-party and independent candidates. Republicans in Georgia intervened, seeking to keep all the candidates on the ballot.
Raffensperger ruled that Stein qualified under a new Georgia law awarding a ballot place to candidates of a party that qualifies in at least 20 other states. That's even though Raffensperger agreed with Malihi that the separate Green Party of Georgia had not qualified Stein for the ballot.
“This is democracy at work, despite the best efforts of the Democrat Party to deny us access to voters,” Stein campaign manager Jason Call said in a statement. “We look forward to November.”
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An earlier version of the story incorrectly reported that the Green Party's Jill Stein had not qualified for Georgia's presidential ballot. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ruled that Stein qualified for Georgia's ballot through another route even though he upheld a decision that the separate Green Party of Georgia had not qualified.