ATLANTA – Two Fulton County judges have disqualified independent Cornel West and socialist Claudia De la Cruz from Georgia’s presidential ballot, narrowing the field of qualified candidates in the Peach State to four.
In decisions handed down Wednesday, the judges ruled that electors for West and De la Cruz improperly filed nominating petitions for their candidates. The ruling reverses a decision by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger late last month.
However, the names of West and De la Cruz still will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot because it’s too late to remove them.
“The deadline to send for ballots for overseas and military voters is days away,” Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. wrote in the West case. “Given the importance of the 2024 presidential election, the critical importance of voter confidence in elections, and the importance of consistency in ballots … this court ORDERS the secretary of state to post notices complying with the language of this order … and at every polling location to alert all Georgia voters that Dr. Cornel West is not a valid candidate.”
Raffensperger’s Aug. 29 decision permitted six candidates to appear on Georgia’s presidential ballot: West, De la Cruz, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, Libertarian Chase Oliver and the Green Party’s Jill Stein.
The Democratic Party of Georgia appealed the secretary’s ruling, citing an earlier decision by an administrative law judge taking West and De la Cruz off the ballot.
A poll Quinnipiac University released this week showed West and De la Cruz each with 1% of the Georgia vote. With both running to the left of Harris, Democrats were concerned they could siphon off votes from the vice president in what promises to be a close contest for Georgia’s 16 electoral votes.