ATLANTA (AP) — Presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz aren’t qualified to be on Georgia's ballots and votes for them should not count, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. Following a hearing Tuesday , the unanimous court agreed that West and De la Cruz failed to qualify. That's because their presidential electors did not each submit a separate petition with the 7,500 signatures needed to access Georgia’s ballots.
Instead, only one petition per candidate was submitted, as specified by Georgia's secretary of state. Democrats who are trying to prevent other candidates from siphoning votes from Vice President Kamala Harris challenged West and De la Cruz's positions on the ballot. West and De la Cruz qualified as independents in Georgia, although De la Cruz is the nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Neither the West nor the De la Cruz campaigns immediately responded to emails seeking comment. The names of both candidates will remain on Georgia's ballots, but votes for them won’t be counted, said Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger . A lawyer for Raffensperger told justices Tuesday that it's too late to reprint ballots, in part because not enough watermarked security paper is available.
There could also be problems with reprogramming voting machines. If ordered to disqualify the candidates, Raffensperger will order notices in polling places and mailed-out ballots warning that votes for West and D.
