An administrative judge in Georgia has recommended denying four independent and third-party candidates the opportunity to appear on the ballot for November’s election.
Judge Michael Malihi issued the recommendations on Aug. 26, which could result in the disqualification of independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, as well as Green Party candidate Jill Stein and the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Claudia De la Cruz.
The final decision now rests with Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who must make a ruling before ballots are sent to military and overseas voters on Sept. 17.
If Raffensperger upholds the recommendations, Georgia voters will have a choice between Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, Republican candidate former President Donald Trump, and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver. The last time a ballot in Georgia included candidates beyond Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian was in 2000 when Pat Buchanan qualified.
Georgia is one of the battleground states where challenges were filed against independent and third-party candidates by Democrats and allied groups. While it is unlikely that any of the four candidates in question would win Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, they are seen as potential threats to divert votes from Trump or Harris. President Joe Biden narrowly won the state by less than 12,000 votes.
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The lawsuit alleges that all four candidates submitted their own names to state election officials instead of the names of the state electors who would vote for them. It also states that the Georgia electors for each of the four candidates did not pay the state qualifying fees.
“None of these candidates meet the requirements to be on the Georgia ballot,” said Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye, executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia.
Until this year, candidates in Georgia had to collect signatures from 7,500 registered voters to secure a spot on the ballot. However, a new law passed by Georgia’s Republican-led Legislature now allows the secretary of state to add any political party or body that qualifies for the ballot in at least 20 other states.
According to Raffensperger’s office, the campaigns of Kennedy, West, and De la Cruz submitted enough signatures to meet the registration requirement. Stein’s campaign relied on the new law for access to the Georgia ballot.
In the cases of De la Cruz, Kennedy, and West, Judge Malihi agreed with the Democrats’ argument that petitions for independent and third-party candidates must be filed in the name of the 16 presidential electors, not the candidates themselves.
According to the attorney representing the Green Party, the remaining evidence could not be provided as some states would not release the information before Georgia’s deadline.
These recommendations come shortly after Kennedy announced on Aug. 23 that he was ending his presidential campaign and endorsing Trump. Kennedy stated that he would remain on the ballot in most states but remove his name from contested states.
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