In a decision released Wednesday afternoon, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that votes for presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz will not count, upholding decisions from two Fulton County Superior Court judges to disqualify them from the ballot.
The decision, which came just a day after the justices heard oral arguments in the case, could influence who wins Georgia’s 16 electoral votes and possibly the presidency.
The ruling mirrored the justices’ skepticism of the campaigns’ legal arguments and ended a two-month legal battle in which the Georgia Democratic Party attempted to block minor presidential candidates from the ballot.
While West’s and De la Cruz’s names will appear on ballots across Georgia, only votes for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, Republican Donald Trump, Libertarian Chase Oliver and the Green Party’s nominee, Jill Stein, will count in official results. Attorney Elizabeth Young, representing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told the court Tuesday that there is not enough time or official ballot paper to remedy the problem.
Under the ruling, polling locations will be required to prominently display signs notifying voters that ballots cast for either candidate will not be counted because it is too late to remove their names from printed ballots and programmed voting machines.
Earlier this month, the two Fulton judges overruled Raffensperger’s decision to include West and De la Cruz on the statewide ballot. Both rulings were appealed to the state Supreme Court soon after by the campaigns.
The Democratic-backed legal challenges are part of a nationwide push to keep the minor candidates off ballots under the belief they will siphon votes away from Harris in a tight presidential race. Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump in Georgia’s 2020 election by fewer than 12,000 votes. In what’s expected to be a close race for the White House between Harris and Trump, a few thousand votes could determine who wins Georgia.
The Georgia Republican Party intervened, supporting the minor candidates’ ballot access.
Edwin DeJesus, who is with the West campaign, encouraged supporters to cast a protest vote.
“His name is still appearing on the ballot,” DeJesus said. “We encourage all voters supporting our campaign in Georgia to vote for Cornel West.”
Josh McKoon, chair of the Georgia Republican Party, said the party is disappointed in the ruling that “disenfranchises thousands of Georgians who simply wanted the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice.”
Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye, executive director of the Georgia Democratic Party, commended the ruling.
“Today’s ruling affirms what two judges have already found: neither of these candidates is qualified to be on the ballot, and the Secretary of State attempting to ignore the judges’ rulings doesn’t make state election law any less clear,” Olasanoye said in a statement. “We believe that every candidate should follow the rules, and today the Georgia Supreme Court agreed.”
Other candidates found their way on or off the state’s presidential ballot in different ways.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew his name from the Georgia ballot and endorsed Trump.
Stein qualified for the ballot by way of a state provision Republican state lawmakers passed this year to allow any political party or political body to automatically qualify for the state ticket if it achieves ballot access in at least 20 other states.
West and De la Cruz cleared the minimum of 7,500 petition signatures to qualify for the ballot, but state law requires those signatures to be submitted in the name of one of a candidate’s 16 potential state electors. The court ruled none of the West or De la Cruz electors met that requirement.
It is possible for the West and De la Cruz campaigns to appeal to the federal courts, but attorneys who spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said it’s unclear whether there are any issues to review under federal law.
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