ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters will likely have their pick of six presidential candidates after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger put Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz back on the ballot on Thursday, ruling that Green Party leader Jill Stein had qualified through a different route.
Raffensperger, a Republican-elect, last week rejected an administrative law judge’s findings that impeached 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.
Challenges to independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were dismissed as irrelevant after Kennedy filed papers with Georgia on Monday to officially withdraw his name. Kennedy said last week he was suspending his campaign, withdrawing from the polls in the most competitive states and endorsing Republican Donald Trump.
Democrats who want to keep West, De la Cruz and Stein off the ballot can appeal the decision, but time is running out. Georgia will begin mailing military and overseas ballots on Sept. 17.
If the decisions stand, Georgia voters will have six options 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 have had more than four options for president. Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians automatically qualify to run in Georgia.
Democrats have sued West, De la Cruz, Kennedy and Stein to block candidates who could steal votes from Harris after Joe Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020.
Malihi agreed with the state Democratic Party’s argument that petitions for independent candidates should be filed on behalf of the 16 electors, not the candidates themselves, citing a 2017 change in Georgia law.
But Raffensperger, who has the final say, said a single petition in the name of either De la Cruz or West met the requirements of both state law and a 2016 court ruling 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 objected to third-party and independent candidates. Republicans in Georgia intervened and tried to keep all candidates on the ballot.
Raffensperger ruled that Stein was qualified under a new Georgia law that awards a ballot to candidates of a party that has qualified in at least 20 other states, while Raffensperger agreed with Malihi that the separate Green Party of Georgia had not qualified Stein for the ballot.
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An earlier version of the story incorrectly reported that the Green Party’s Jill Stein had not qualified for the Georgia presidential primary. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ruled that Stein qualified for the Georgia primary through another route, though he upheld a ruling that the separate Green Party of Georgia had not qualified.
