Jill Stein triumphs over Wisconsin ballot challenge as Georgia judge takes drastic steps

Madison, Wisconsin - Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein and her running mate, Prof. Butch Ware, will remain on the 2024 Wisconsin ballot despite Democratic efforts to remove them!

Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein will appear on the 2024 Wisconsin ballot after the state Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge brought by a Democratic National Committee employee.
Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein will appear on the 2024 Wisconsin ballot after the state Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge brought by a Democratic National Committee employee.  © IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

"It is ordered that the petition for leave to commence an original action is denied. We determine that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief he seeks," the Wisconsin Supreme Court wrote on Monday.

The DNC's deputy operations director for Wisconsin, David Strange, had filed a complaint earlier this month claiming the Green Party is ineligible to appear on the ballot and asking the Wisconsin Elections Commission to remove Stein. He argued that the Green Party cannot nominate presidential electors because they must be state officers (such as members of the state legislature, judges, and others).

The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court after it was determined the elections commissioners could not decide impartially on a matter brought against themselves.

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The Wisconsin Greens – with support from the Wisconsin Republican Party – insisted that they had met all legal requirements for ballot access. They saw their grassroots efforts pay off in Monday's Supreme Court order.

The decision presents the latest victory for the Stein-Ware campaign as they fight back against Democratic-led efforts to kick them off 2024 ballots in key swing states, including an unsuccessful challenge in Nevada earlier this month.

"This is a big win against the anti-Democratic Party's war on democracy and voter choice. The Democrats constantly preach about 'saving democracy,' when it reality they've been doing everything they can to crush democracy by trying to remove the Green Party and others from the ballot," Stein said in a statement.

"Today, justice prevailed, we beat back the DNC's attack, and voters in Wisconsin will still have an anti-genocide, pro-worker, climate action choice in this election."

Georgia judge rules against four presidential contenders

Clockwise from top l.: Dr. Cornel West, Claudia De la Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Dr. Jill Stein are facing Democratic Party-backed challenges to their ballot access campaigns in the battleground state of Georgia.
Clockwise from top l.: Dr. Cornel West, Claudia De la Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Dr. Jill Stein are facing Democratic Party-backed challenges to their ballot access campaigns in the battleground state of Georgia.  © Collage: MATTHEW HATCHER, Michael M. Santiago, OLIVIER TOURON & Mattie Neretin / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

The Greens received less favorable news in the battleground state of Georgia, where administrative law judge Michael Malihi on Monday ruled against Stein, Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate Claudia De la Cruz, and independents Dr. Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Malihi's decision, if upheld, will leave Democrat Kamala Harris, Republican Donald Trump, and Libertarian Chase Oliver as the only candidates on the Georgia ballot.

In Stein's case, the judge said it would be impossible for the Green Party to prove it has qualified in at least 20 other states – in accordance with new ballot access rules – before Georgia's deadline to print ballots.

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In the other three cases, Malihi sided with the Georgia Democratic Party in ruling that petitions must be filed in the name of 16 presidential electors, not the candidates themselves – an interpretation which lawyers for all three campaigns have rejected as wrong and unduly burdensome.

"In Georgia, independent candidates do not themselves qualify for the office of president and vice president of the United States of America for the ballot," the judge wrote. "Rather, individuals seeking the office of presidential elector qualify for the ballot to have their candidate for president or vice president placed on the ballot."

Malihi also ruled that the Katonah, New York, address Kennedy used on his ballot access petitions was a "sham" – echoing an argument used to bar him from the ballot in the Empire State.

Kennedy, who last week dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, has said he will try to withdraw his name in Georgia.

Meanwhile, De la Cruz and the Vote Socialist campaign have announced they are seeking to appeal the ruling.

"We are fighting for our democratic right, to give people options outside the corporate duopoly and be part of a movement beyond election year. But Democrats hate democracy!" the presidential candidate posted on X.

The final decision about the candidates' ballot status will fall to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who must make the call before military and overseas ballots are mailed starting September 17.

Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

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