A Commonwealth Court judge on Friday ruled that independent candidate Cornel West must be excluded from Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot.
Judge Renee Cohn Jubelier sided with the Pennsylvania Secretary of State in ruling that minor party presidential candidates must file affidavits for each of their electors, unlike major party candidates. Jubelier said West did not have affidavits for fourteen of his nineteen electors.
Other candidates are fighting to get onto the ballot. Jill Stein of the Green Party and Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party have petitioned for inclusion on the Pennsylvania ballot, and they have not been challenged. But Claudia De la Cruz of the Party for Socialism and Liberation was kicked off the ballot last week and is appealing.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. informed the court Friday that he will withdraw from the state’s ballot, although he will remain on the ballot in states where he is not considered likely to change the outcome.
Meanwhile, in a 4-1 ruling on Friday, a Commonwealth Court panel ruled that the state cannot refuse to count undated or incorrectly dated mail-in ballots if they are received in time, calling the requirement “meaningless and inconsequential paperwork.”
