The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday that presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz do not qualify to appear on the state’s ballot, meaning any votes cast for either candidate will not be counted. Democrats have launched lawfare efforts against the candidates in several states where they could potentially hurt Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of winning.
The court ruled that the presidential electors for both West and De la Cruz failed to submit proper petitions with the required signatures after Democrats challenged the candidates. The court ruled each elector was required to submit a separate petition with the required signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. That means each of West and De la Cruz’s 16 electors needed to file individual petitions with 7,500 signatures. But both West and De la Cruz submitted only one petition following guidance from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“We now hold that each presidential elector for an independent candidate running for the office of President of the United States is a ‘candidate’ required to file a notice of candidacy under [state law] applies to each presidential elector for an independent candidate running for the office of President of the United States; and, under [state law], each presidential elector is therefore required to file a nomination petition in his or her own name ‘in the form prescribed in Code Section 21-2-170,’” the court ruled.
The court ordered Raffensperger to place notices in polling locations warning that votes cast for
