In a recent development, the Georgia Supreme Court has made a decision to pause orders disqualifying presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz. The decision was reached over the weekend in response to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s announcement stating that military and overseas ballots would include West and De la Cruz as candidates when they are sent out starting Tuesday. However, it is important to note that the inclusion of these candidates on the ballots does not guarantee that votes cast for them will be counted. The state’s high court still has the authority to disqualify them, ultimately leading to the invalidation of votes in their favor.
Cornel West is running as an independent candidate in Georgia, while Claudia De la Cruz is representing the Party of Socialism and Liberation, yet qualified for the Georgia ballot as an independent. Georgia voters will have a variety of presidential candidates to choose from, including Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Kamala Harris, Libertarian Chase Oliver, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. The inclusion of West and De la Cruz would mark the first time since 1948 that Georgia sees more than four candidates vying for its presidential electors.
Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians are traditionally given automatic qualification for elections in Georgia. In a recent interview, De la Cruz expressed awareness of the challenges in getting her name on the ballot and criticized efforts to suppress third-party candidates, drawing connections between voter suppression and ballot access for independent candidates. Georgia has been a focal point of legal battles over third-party and independent candidates, with Democrats seeking to block contenders who could potentially divert votes from Harris following Biden’s narrow victory in the state in 2020.
The contest over ballot access in Georgia has witnessed a series of legal maneuvers. An administrative law judge initially disqualified West, De la Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Georgia Green Party from appearing on the ballot. Raffensperger, however, overruled the judge’s decision, granting access to West and De la Cruz. The situation escalated when Superior Court judges in Atlanta sided with Democrats, disqualifying the two candidates, and shifting the battleground to the state Supreme Court for a final decision.
