UNITED STATES NEWS

Votes for Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz will count in Georgia for now

Sep 16, 2024, 9:27 AM

Claudia De la Cruz, the Party for Socialism and Liberation's 2024 presidential nominee, speaks duri...

Claudia De la Cruz, the Party for Socialism and Liberation's 2024 presidential nominee, speaks during an interview on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in a park in Decatur, Ga. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

ATLANTA (AP) — In yet another reversal, votes in Georgia for presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz will count for now after the Georgia Supreme Court paused orders disqualifying them.

The court’s decision Sunday came as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office said military and overseas ballots will be mailed beginning Tuesday with West and De la Cruz listed as candidates.

This doesn’t guarantee that votes for the two will be counted. They could still be disqualified by the state high court, in which case votes for them would be discarded.

West is running as an independent in Georgia. De la Cruz is the nominee for the Party of Socialism and Liberation but she technically qualified for the Georgia ballot as an independent.

Presidential choices for Georgia voters will definitely include Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Kamala Harris, Libertarian Chase Oliver and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, the most candidates since 2000. But if West and De la Cruz are also included, it would be the first time since 1948 that more than four candidates seek Georgia’s presidential electors.

Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians automatically qualify for elections in Georgia.

In an interview Friday in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur, before a campaign appearance in nearby Clarkston, De la Cruz said she wasn’t “naive” about how hard it would be to put her name before voters, likening efforts to keep her off the ballot to efforts to keep people from voting.

“We know just how undemocratic the electoral system, the so-called democracy of this country is,” De la Cruz said. “We knew that we were going to face challenges here in Georgia., in the South, just generally there’s a history of voter suppression, and I don’t think that we can disconnect voter suppression with what’s happening with ballot access for third party candidates and independent candidates.”

Georgia is one of several states where Democrats and allied groups have filed challenges to third-party and independent candidates, seeking to block candidates who could siphon votes from Harris after President Joe Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020. In Georgia, Democrats argue West and De la Cruz should be denied access because their 16 electors didn’t file petitions in their own names.

Republicans in Georgia intervened, seeking to keep all the candidates on the ballot, and the party has pushed to prop up liberal third-party candidates such as West and Stein in battleground states in an effort to hurt Harris.

Those interests have contributed to a flurry of legal activity in Georgia. An administrative law judge disqualified West, De la Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Georgia Green Party from the ballot. Raffensperger, a Republican, overruled the judge, and said West and De la Cruz should get access. He also ruled that under a new Georgia law, Stein should go on Georgia ballots because the national Green Party had qualified her in at least 20 other states.

Kennedy’s name stayed off ballots because he withdrew his candidacy in Georgia and a number of other states after suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump.

Superior Court judges in Atlanta then agreed with Democrats who appealed Raffensperger’s decisions on West and De la Cruz, disqualifying them and setting the stage for the fight to move to the state Supreme Court.

Comments

Comment guidelines: No name-calling, personal attacks, profanity, or insults. Please keep the conversation civil and help us moderate comments by reporting abuse.
comments powered by Disqus

United States News

Associated Press

Middle East latest: Israel says 15 trucks carrying aid have been allowed into northern Gaza

Israel says 15 trucks carrying aid have been allowed into northern Gaza, where aid groups have warned that a monthlong Israeli offensive could cause a famine. The trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday with aid from the United Arab Emirates, said the military body handling aid deliveries into the territory, COGAT. It said the aid consisted […]

7 minutes ago

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, W...

Associated Press

Liberals pressure Senate Democrats to confirm more Biden judges while they can

WASHINGTON (AP) — Demand Justice, a progressive organization focused on the judiciary, is set to bombard Capitol Hill with a message for the closing weeks of the 118th Congress: Do “whatever it takes” to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees as a second Donald Trump presidency looms. The Republican president-elect’s victory and the GOP takeover of […]

5 hours ago

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., meets with reporters after he was elected to succeed longt...

Associated Press

Trump issues early challenge to GOP Senate with defiant nominations

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just hours after Republican Sen. John Thune was elected as the incoming Senate majority leader on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump presented him with one of his first tests — an announcement that he intends to nominate controversial Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general. The Florida Republican is one of the more universally […]

5 hours ago

FILE - Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., arrives before Republican presidential candidate former President ...

Associated Press

Trump’s mainstream picks for top foreign policy posts could reassure allies — and worry China

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is famously unconventional, but he made conventional picks for his two top foreign policy positions. That could be reassuring to American allies, while China and Iran have reasons to be wary. Trump on Wednesday announced his choice of Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state. Two days earlier, he […]

5 hours ago

Maribel Hidalgo, 23, of Caracas, Venezuela, stands for a portrait with her son, Daniel, 2, outside ...

Associated Press

1 million migrants in the US rely on temporary protections that Trump could target

NEW YORK (AP) — Maribel Hidalgo fled her native Venezuela a year ago with a 1-year-old son, trudging for days through Panama’s Darien Gap, then riding the rails across Mexico to the United States. They were living in the U.S. when the Biden administration announced Venezuelans would be offered Temporary Protected Status, which allows people […]

5 hours ago

FILE - The Capitol is seen in Washington, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)Credit: ASSOC...

Associated Press

Republicans win 218 US House seats, giving Donald Trump and the party control of government

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump. A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the […]

7 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

Day & Night Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing

Why a Heating Tune-Up is Essential Before Winter

PHOENIX, AZ — With cooler weather on the horizon, making sure your heating system is prepped and ready can make all the difference in staying comfortable this winter.

...

Bright Wealth Management

Here’s how to save money on retirement planning

PHOENIX -- With inflation still going on, people planning on retiring still face many issues on when they can retire and how much money they need to achieve it.

...

Day & Night Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing

It wouldn’t hurt to get your AC checked after Arizona’s excruciating heat wave

A well-maintained air conditioning unit is vital to living a comfortable life inside, away from triple-digit heat in Arizona.

Votes for Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz will count in Georgia for now