Georgia is a crucial swing state in the tight presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris: The vote margin is expected to be so close that any one vote may be decisive. Consequently, both the Democratic and Republican Parties are trying to control ballot access in Georgia for third party and independent presidential candidates, making it a contentious issue with national importance. -Ed.
Update: The Georgia Supreme Court on Sep. 25 upheld the decision by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox, Jr. to disqualify Claudia De la Cruz and Cornel West from the presidential ballot in Georgia. Their names will still appear on the ballot, but their votes will not be counted.
On a rainy Friday night, some 70 to 80 people crowded into the Clarkston Community Center to hear from Claudia De la Cruz — a community organizer and former preacher from the south Bronx — on why they should cast a vote for her instead of the Democratic or Republican presidential nominees.
There’s just one snag: De la Cruz, the Party for Socialism and Liberation presidential nominee, is currently on the Georgia ballot, but it’s still not clear if her votes will be counted in the Peach State.
That is because De la Cruz, along with independent candidate Cornel West, has been at the center of a protracted legal battle initiated by the Georgia Democratic Party to keep independent and third party candidates off the ballot. (While De la Cruz is the PSL nominee, she filed for ballot access in Georgia as an independent.)
Green Party candidate Jill Stein prevailed in her legal challenge from the Democrats and will appear on the Nov. 5 presidential ballot with Democrat Kamala Harris, Republican Donald Trump and Libertarian Chase Oliver. Another independent candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., voluntarily dropped his Georgia ballot petition.
“It’s very important for us to be in this fight — and we are confident that we will win, because their arguments are complete b.s.,” De la Cruz told Atlanta Civic Circle.
The socialist candidate is running on a platform of dismantling the U.S. capitalist system and U.S. hegemony in global affairs in favor of the “direct exercise of power by workers.” De la Cruz’s platform calls for nationalizing the top 100 wealthiest U.S. corporations as a key way to do that.
“Quality healthcare, education through college and beyond, free childcare, decent housing and a living wage with union representation would become constitutional rights,” her platform says.
De la Cruz also proposes abolishing the Supreme Court, the Senate, and the Federal Reserve, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency. She calls for cutting the U.S. military budget by 90% and suspending all aid and diplomatic support to Israel.
Democrats strike back
Georgia Democrats, it seems, are worried about losing some Harris votes to the PSL candidate — in particular progressive voters whose top issue is the war in Gaza. Chants of pro-Palestine slogans were a dominant refrain in between speakers at De la Cruz’s Friday evening rally in Clarkston.
The state Democratic Party has thrown its legal muscle behind efforts to keep De la Cruz, West, Stein, and Kennedy off the ballot. Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians have automatic ballot access in Georgia. Any other presidential candidates must collect 7,500 signatures and submit petitions from themselves and 16 electors to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, or, demonstrate ballot access in at least 20 other states.
After the state Democratic Party sued in July to kick the four candidates off the ballot, the Georgia Republican Party intervened in the lawsuits to try and keep them on.
De la Cruz called the legal machinations from both parties a reflection of the amoral nature of the two-party system in U.S. electoral politics. “I mean, it’s a game, right? We have to also be clear that it’s a game, and I think we need to be very strategic about the fissures in the ruling class,” she said.
“There’s obviously differences, and there’s obviously the desire of one of the two camps of the ruling class to win,” she explained. ”Therefore, they’re going to create openings, and we need to take advantage of those openings.”
Georgia’s chief administrative law judge initially agreed with the Democrats and disqualified all four candidates for improperly filing their ballot access petitions. But Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger overruled that decision at the end of August, retaining De la Cruz, West, and Stein on the ballot.
Undeterred, Georgia Democrats sued in state court to override Raffensperger’s decisions on De la Cruz and West, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox, Jr. disqualified both of them on Sept 11. It was too late to reprint the state’s General Election ballots already listing De la Cruz and West, he ruled, so instead, any votes cast for them would not be counted.
But then, attorneys for West and De la Cruz appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, and on Sept. 15 it ordered a stay, or freeze, on their disqualifications until the appeals are resolved.
West’s lawyer, Bryan Tyson, said in an email that the cases for his client and De la Cruz hinge on the same issue. “The key issue in both appeals is whether the electors had to submit their own nominating petitions or whether the nominating petitions in the name of the candidates was enough as a matter of law.”
The Supreme Court has expedited the case. It required the parties for both appeals to submit briefs by Sept. 18 and scheduled oral arguments for Sept. 24 at 10 a.m.
“I expect we will get a decision very shortly after that,” Tyson said.
Democracy at stake
De la Cruz views the Democrat’s effort to keep her and other candidates off the Georgia ballot as part of the South’s history of voter suppression. “I don’t think that we can disconnect voter suppression with what’s happening with ballot access for third party candidates and independent candidates,” she told the Associated Press.
Even if De la Cruz’s votes ultimately aren’t counted in Georgia, she said, her fight is about more than being on the presidential ballot.
“It’s just a small thing in the context of larger work, political work that needs to be done,” she said. “We need to go into our communities and educate our people about the many barriers and obstacles that are placed on democracy in this state.”
“They understand that democracy is not working for them, and so what we will do is continue to organize, to mobilize and encourage people to fight for every single right that they should have guaranteed,” she said.
To those Democrats who say De la Cruz is just a spoiler candidate, her reply is that she expects Democrats to scapegoat her and other third party candidates — as well as non-voters — if they lose.
“They’re gonna scapegoat and they’re gonna gaslight people like they always do, but they will never assume responsibility for their deficiencies,” she said.