Votes For West, De la Cruz Won’t Count After All.
Wednesday, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled unanimously that while it’s too late to remove the names of independent candidate Cornel West and Socialist candidate Claudia De la Cruz, votes cast for them will NOT count. The back and forth on this subject is over.
Why? The Court explains:
For the reasons set out in this opinion, we now hold that each
https://www.gasupreme.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/s25a0177.pdf
presidential elector for an independent candidate running for the
office of President of the United States is a “candidate” required to
file a notice of candidacy under OCGA § 21-2-132 (d) (1); OCGA § 21-
2-132 (e) applies to each presidential elector for an independent
candidate running for the office of President of the United States;
and, under OCGA § 21-2-132 (e), each presidential elector is
therefore required to file a nomination petition in his or her own
name “in the form prescribed in Code Section 21-2-170.” We further
hold that if no presidential elector for an independent candidate for
President files such a petition for a particular election, no elector
has qualified as a candidate for the office of presidential elector, and
so that elector’s independent candidate for President may not
appear on the ballot for election in Georgia.
Thus, the candidates for president whose votes will count are Kamala Harris (Democrat), Chase Oliver (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green), and Donald Trump (Republican).
You’ll have more choices than normal, but honestly, the Legislature needs to change the law to open up ballot access for candidates at all levels. Fewer and fewer voters look at the Democratic and Republican parties and see a party representing their values. If you think, as I do, that the activists that control both parties don’t reflect the views of most Americans, then the only way to break their hold on the parties is to give voters more choices.
