Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, announced on Tuesday that independent presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West have successfully submitted the required number of valid signatures to qualify for the state’s ballot in November. Additionally, Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate Claudia De La Cruz also met the signature threshold.
The candidates surpassed the minimum requirement of 7,500 valid signatures, a crucial step in their bid to appear on the ballot in the key battleground state of Georgia.
However, both Kennedy and West are facing objections to their petitions from the Georgia Democratic Party. The objections claim that the candidates failed to comply with Georgia election law by submitting their petitions under their own names instead of their slates of electors. Furthermore, it is alleged that West missed the state’s independent candidate filing deadline.
Raffensperger’s office stated that hearings to address these challenges will be held next week. An administrative law judge will then make a decision on whether Kennedy and West will ultimately be included on the ballot.
If Kennedy and West do secure a spot on the ballot, their presence could potentially impact the electoral landscape in Georgia. The state, where President Joe Biden narrowly defeated former President Donald Trump by less than 12,000 votes, remains a critical battleground in national elections.
