Georgia supreme court rules votes for Cornel West and Claudia De La Cruz will not be counted

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The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that votes for third-party presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz will not be counted in the upcoming election. In a unanimous decision, the court found that while both candidates collected the required 7,500 petition signatures to qualify for the ballot, they failed to submit those signatures in the name of an authorized state elector, as mandated by Georgia law.

Justice Sarah Warren noted that the issue was not related to the number of signatures but rather the absence of nomination petitions from West’s and De la Cruz’s electors. This ruling upholds previous decisions made by lower courts, which concluded that the candidates did not comply with state election regulations. The case escalated to the state Supreme Court after Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger did not act on the lower court rulings.

Raffensperger clarified that neither West nor De la Cruz will be removed from the November ballot due to time constraints and a lack of paper for new ballots. Instead, he will issue notices to polling locations and mail-out ballots indicating that votes for these candidates will be counted.

The election will feature Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic Party, former President Donald Trump for the Republican Party, Jill Stein for the Green Party, and Chase Oliver for the Libertarian Party.