A Georgia administrative judge has recommended that four independent and third-party candidates be excluded from the November ballot.
On August 26, Judge Michael Malihi’s recommendations set the stage for disqualifying independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, along with Jill Stein of the Green Party and Claudia De la Cruz of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The final decision now lies with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who must make a decision before the state begins mailing ballots to military and overseas voters on September 17.
If Raffensperger affirms the recommendations, Georgia voters will only have Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, Republican former President Donald Trump, and Libertarian Chase Oliver on the ballot. The last time Georgia had candidates other than a Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian was in 2000, when Pat Buchanan qualified.
Georgia is a key battleground state where Democrats and their allies have challenged the candidacies of independent and third-party candidates.
Although none of these four candidates are expected to win Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, they are seen as potential vote-splitters for Trump or Harris. In the 2020 election, President Joe Biden won the state by a narrow margin of fewer than 12,000