ATLANTA – Three independent and third-party candidates moved one step closer to appearing in Georgia’s presidential election on Tuesday. But there are still legal challenges.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that authorities have verified that independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornelius West and Claudia De la Cruz of the Party for Socialism and Liberation each collected more than 7,500 signatures needed to qualify.
Raffensperger said 11,336 signatures were accepted for Kennedy after county election officials reviewed the petitions, while 8,075 were accepted for Cornel West and 7,682 were accepted for De la Cruz.
While Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians are guaranteed seats on the Georgia ballot, other parties and independent candidates can qualify by petition.
But Georgia Democrats are still legally challenging efforts to place the three candidates and the Green Party nominee Jill Stein at the Georgia polls. It’s part of a nationwide effort to block candidates who could divert votes from the vice president. Kamala Harris.
Hearings on Georgia’s challenges are scheduled to begin Monday. After an administrative law judge makes a recommendation, Raffensperger will issue a final ruling. A decision must be made in time for Georgia to send out military and foreign ballots starting September 17.
While some other states routinely place independent and minor party candidates on the ballot, Georgia voters have not had more than four choices since 1948. The last time there were candidates other than a Republican, Democrat and Libertarian was in 2000, when the independent Pat Buchanan qualified.
Kennedy was voting began in New York earlier this week, when a judge ruled that the address in the New York City suburbs that Kennedy listed as a residence on his nominating petitions was a “sham” address that he used to maintain his voter registration and promote his political aspirations. The judge ruled in favor of challengers who argued that Kennedy’s actual residence was the Los Angeles home he shares with his wife, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines. Kennedy promised to appeal
It is unclear whether Kennedy’s home address will be an issue in the Georgia hearings. Democrats claimed that all of the petitions followed improper procedures, making them invalid. Paul Rossi of the Kennedy campaign said in an online press conference on July 31 that there was nothing wrong with the campaign’s petitions, with Rossi describing the accusations as “throwing spaghetti at the wall.”
“As they cannot dispute the signatures, they made allegations that are simply not correct,” Rossi said.
Until this year, the only way to get to the polls in Georgia was by collecting signatures from 7,500 registered voters across the state. But Georgia’s Republican-majority legislature approved a law directing the secretary of state to also place candidates from any party voting in at least 20 other states on the ballot. That move was widely interpreted as an attempt to create trouble for Biden, although former President Donald Trump’s Republican campaign also considered Kennedy’s campaign with suspicion.
The Green Party, which nominated Stein, says it plans to hold votes in Georgia using the 20-state rule.
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