The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that denied independent candidate Cornel West’s bid to run in the November election.
One page, unsigned order confirms the August 23 ruling of the Commonwealth Court, which agreed with the State Department’s finding that 14 of West’s 19 presidential electors had not filed the affidavits required of presidential electors from minor parties by August 1.
The West campaign did not immediately respond to the Capital-Star’s request for comment.
The Supreme Court decision cleared counties to begin printing and sending mail-in ballots, with Commonwealth Secretary Al Schmidt on Monday certified the official list of candidates on the ballot paper.
“Counties can now prepare their ballots to be printed and then begin mailing ballots to voters who requested them immediately after they are printed,” Schmidt said in a statement.
The presidential ballot in Pennsylvania will feature Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, and Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party candidate.
Department of State (DOS) online candidate database now reflects the official candidate slate for all races, Schmidt added, with one exception: the Republican candidate in the 117th District in Luzerne County is still not official after incumbent Mike Cabell disputed the resultswhich favored challenger Jamie Walsh by a handful of votes. There was no Democratic challenger in this race. Luzerne County Board of Elections The trial began on Monday to confirm the results, with a vote on final certification scheduled for September 23.
DOS has availability of postal voting county-by-county updates page. Voters can apply for absentee ballots on the web or send by post paper voting request or application for postal voting personally at the county elections office by October 29. Mail-in ballots must be returned to the county elections office by 8:00 p.m. on November 5.
The Latest Polls for Pennsylvania’s Presidential Election USA Today and Suffolk University has Harris with a 3-point lead over Trump in the state of Pennsylvania as a whole. Harris leads Trump by 5 points in Northampton County and by 4 points in Erie County, both considered key metrics.
With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania (which Trump won in 2016 and Biden in 2020) is the most significant battleground state for 2024 presidential candidates.
Harris will be in Philadelphia tonight to meet with the National Association of Black Journalists, and Trump is expected to visit Bucks County this weekend.