Pennsylvania Supreme Court Kicks Cornel West Off 2024 Ballot

Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled supreme court shot down left-wing presidential candidate Cornel West’s bid to appear on the state’s 2024 ballot.

In a reportedly unsigned order, the Keystone State’s highest court affirmed a lower court ruling denying West’s bid for ballot access. In that ruling, Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer sided with the office of Secretary of State Al Schmidt “in rejecting West’s candidacy paperwork,” according to the Washington Examiner.

Schmidt’s office had argued that “the paperwork lacked the affidavits for 14 of the 19 presidential electors required by the Aug. 1 filing deadline,” according to the outlet.

Schmidt indicated prior to Monday’s decision that a final ruling on West’s case by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would allow counties to begin printing ballots for the November contest. Schmidt is a self-professed “Republican” and was appointed by Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro.

“As soon as the court rules on that, we’ll certify the official list and then counties can complete their preparations to mail out ballots and to have voters, if they choose, go to a county election office to apply in person,” he reportedly said.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court separately ruled on Friday that third-party presidential candidates James Clymer and Claudia De la Cruz cannot appear on the state’s 2024 ballot. Clymer sought to run as the candidate for the right-leaning Constitution Party, while De la Cruz attempted to run on behalf of the left-wing Party for Socialism and Liberation, according to ABC News.

Left-wing efforts to keep West and other third-party candidates off the November ballot are not exclusive to Pennsylvania, however. For the past several months, Democrats have been weaponizing the legal system to deny these contenders ballot access to help Vice President Kamala Harris’ electoral prospects.

Last week, Democrats successfully convinced two Fulton County judges to kick West and De la Cruz off Georgia’s 2024 ballot. This was done after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger approved them both to appear on the November ballot.

While Democrats were unsuccessful in removing left-wing Green Party candidate Jill Stein from Georgia and Wisconsin’s respective ballots, they did get her booted off Nevada’s ballot. As I previously wrote in these pages, the Silver State’s supreme court “agreed with state Democrats’ claims that the Green Party used incorrect affidavit language on its signature petition.”

The affidavit language used by the third party, however, was provided by the office of Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat. The court’s majority nonetheless dismissed this egregious act by the secretary’s office, claiming the Green Party’s “failure to use the correct circulator affidavit cannot be excused by [its] reliance on the sample petition received from the Secretary.”

Democrats have also unleashed similar underhanded tactics against former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. After attempting to stymie Kennedy’s efforts to gain ballot access in battleground states, Democrats are now trying to keep his name on these states’ ballots after he dropped out and endorsed Donald Trump last month.

The North Carolina Supreme Court, for example, was all but forced to step in last week and allow the removal of Kennedy’s name from the Tarheel State’s 2024 ballot after Democrats sought to keep it on. Democrats’ efforts to keep Kennedy on Michigan’s ballot proved successful, however, after the state’s supreme court permitted Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to do so on Sept. 9.

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