A federal judge in Pittsburgh found Thursday that third-party presidential candidate Cornel West’s challenge to Pennsylvania’s ballot access rules was too overdue to be considered without risk of confusing voters and disrupting the election scheduled for 5 November.
U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan denied a request by West, his running mate Melina Abdullah and three voters to prevent the Pennsylvania Department of State from enforcing its rules when candidates from smaller political parties or political bodies appear on the ballot.
Ranjan expressed “serious concerns” about Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt’s application of the state’s election code to West.
“The rules applied to him and based on the record before the Court appear to be intended to restrict access to the ballot for him (and other non-lead political candidates) for reasons that are not wholly relevant or tailored to individual needs and therefore seem to be inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States,” Ranjan said in a 12-page opinion.
However, the court has a duty to consider the impact of its decision on all parties, balancing their interests in the outcome, Ranjan said.
“Common sense tells the Court that there is less than a month left until the general presidential elections. There is no time to reprint thousands of ballots and retest election systems in all 67 counties without increasing the risk of errors and confusion,” Ranjan’s decision states.
On Friday, attorneys for West, Abdullah and the voters filed an appeal of the decision.
“We are pleased that the Court found that the constitutional rights of Dr. West and the voters were violated. But I would like the Secretary to notice that as well,” said attorney Matthew Haverstick.
A spokesman for Schmidt, who is named as a defendant, said Schmidt was pleased the court moved quickly to throw out the case, which he described as a “last-minute attempt to throw confusion” into the election.
“One of the dangers of last-minute litigation is that courts do not have sufficient time to review the law when making decisions,” spokesman Matthew Heckel said.
In a lawsuit filed Sept. 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, West argued that requiring minor-party candidates to submit statements to presidential electors unaffiliated with any major party is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
“Without furthering any state interest, Defendants’ interpretation places a serious burden on Plaintiffs’ constitutional interests that they would not have to face if they were not candidates and voters of a political body rather than a political party,” West’s complaint stated.
West is an American philosopher, theologian, political activist, politician, social critic, and public intellectual. West’s politically progressive presence on the ballot would likely draw votes away from the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. West is represented by attorneys from the Republican Party law firm McNees, Wallace & Nurick.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month, two lower court rulings blocking third-party presidential candidates from appearing on the ballot were upheld.
The courts sided with the State Department, refusing to allow West to place Constitution Party presidential candidate James Clymer and Socialist Liberation Party candidate Claudia de la Cruz on the ballot over issues involving their presidential electors.
“The Commonwealth Court’s comprehensive review of this issue, affirmed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, demonstrates that this provision of Pennsylvania election law is fully consistent with constitutional requirements,” State Department spokesman Heckel said.
Two smaller parties successfully placed their candidates’ names on the ballot: Jill Stein and Vice President Samson LeBeau Kpadenou of the Green Party, and Chase Oliver and running mate Mike ter Maat of the Libertarian Party.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in August that he was suspending his campaign in Pennsylvania and other battleground states, then filed papers in the Commonwealth Court asking that his and running mate Nicole Shanahan’s names be removed from the ballot.
Kennedy’s announcement followed his defeat in a New York vote that challenged the legality of his presence in the state and a hearing on a similar claim in Pennsylvania, where he arrived overdue and was not allowed to testify.
