Judge Rules Cornel West Can Appear on Michigan Presidential Ballot
The Democratic Party is trying to get swing states to remove potential spoilers from the ballot.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford ruled that Cornel West and his running mate Melina Abdullah can appear on Michigan’s presidential ballot in November.
When this case is distilled to its most basic elements, it presents a question of statutory interpretation. The Court must decide if, under the Michigan Election Law, MCL 168.1 et seq., a person who seeks to run for President or Vice President as a candidate not affiliated with a political party in Michigan, presents 26,934 signatures to the Secretary of State (SOS) in accordance with Michigan law, on a form prescribed by statute which states the undersigned petition signers “nominate” the person to be a candidate, and the SOS “estimates” 16,089 of those signatures are valid and the petitions contain at least 100 signatures from at least one-half of the congressional districts in the state, the total estimated valid signatures being well in excess of the 12,000 valid signatures required for placement on the ballot, has that person been “nominated” for the Office of President or Vice President?
The Court concludes the answer to that question is yes.
The Democrats, supposedly fighting to save democracy, opposed West on the ballot.
The Michigan Bureau of Elections, which is under Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, ruled to remove West from the ballot.
The state claimed West had problems with his affidavit of identity:
Jonathan Brater, Michigan’s elections director, told the West campaign Aug. 16 that he was disqualified from the Michigan ballot because of defects in his affidavit of identity, which was filed with the state along with the required number of petition signatures. Brater’s letter said there were several defects in the affidavit, including unfilled blanks on the form, the notary’s public stamp being sent on a separate sheet of paper and the notary failing to identify what specific notarial act she was engaged in.
But Redford ruled that under state law, West as an independent candidate was not required to file an affidavit of identity along with his signatures, making any deficiencies in that affidavit irrelevant.
The Michigan Democratic Party challenged West’s eligibility.
Attorney Mark Brewer, who used to chair the state’s party, filed an appeal on Sunday with the Michigan Court of Appeals. He “represents Rosa Holliday, a Michigan voter, in the ballot eligibility dispute.”
The state wants to appeal Redford’s decision.
Michigan is a swing state.
In 2016, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton 47.50% to 47.27%
Libertarian Gary Johnson received 3.59% of the votes, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 1.07%.
In 2020, Biden beat Trump by 50.62% to 47.84%.
Libertarian Jo Jorgensen received 1.09% of the votes, and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins received 0.25%.
RFK Jr. wants to take himself off the ballot in swing states like Michigan.
Libertarian Chase Oliver and Green Party candidate Jill Stein will appear on the ballot with West.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party wants the state to remove Stein from the ballot.
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Comments
Cheat, cheat, and cheat some more!
He is a spoiler and he knows it. It’s gaming our election system. But it’s legal. That’s how gaming works.
So what? He’s OUR spoiler. For once in 30 blue moons.
There goes your Muzzie vote, Kammie!
He can appear on the ballot but it’s not possible for him to appear presidential.
True dat
This is great news. He’ll carry Dearborn 95-5.
The only requirement to get on the ballot in any state should be a petition with, say, 50,000 legitimate voters* on a petition. Will that allow too many choices (a la Bernie)? I don’t care. And all claims to keep someone off the ballot should be required to be adjudicated immediately. (And the loser should pay for any required recounts.)
(* I would be willing to debate the minimum number. It should probably be a “1% or 50,000 voters, whichever is less” to control for the size of states. And it should be based entirely on the number of registered voters – with strict rules about purging the roles regularly.)
Also, write-ins should be allowed in every state. With no real restrictions. (I would concede needing to provide some identification of the write-in that would allow you to find them in the crowd.)
If you’re talking about presidential elections, the constitution leaves it completely up to each state legislature.
Also, how would a write-in even work, in a presidential election? In Michigan, if you vote “for Trump”, what you’re really doing is voting for “16 electors for Donald Trump”, i.e. 16 people who’ve filed nominations and pledged that if they win they’ll vote for Trump in December. How would that work for a write-in? If you wanted to vote for 16 people who, if they became the state’s electors, would vote for Prof Jacobson, how would you go about that?
By the way, does anyone know, is there any other country in the world where there’s even such a concept as writing someone in?
I hope he gets lot and lot and lot and lots of votes. I doubt any potential Trump voters will change their minds.
I never imagined myself rooting for Cornell West, for anything. But, here I am. Go Corny!!
Cornel West is the apotheosis of black intellectual development since Lincoln freed the slaves, and I am eager to cast my vote for him.
Shelves full of books with the covers facing outward — the sign of someone more interested in making sure you know they have the correct books than in actually reading.
With “Black”, “Caste”, and “Radical” in the titles.
What must it be like to wake up every day, look in the mirror and not see one’s self, but seeing black, THEN one’s self? How many Vietnamese here are doing that? Afghanis? Irish?
More often I found that if you look closely at the covers, the interviewee is their author, and he wants to promote their sales to whoever is watching.
“n ballot because of defects in his affidavit of identity”
rightttttt
but the mail in ballots etc
allll legit!!!
A socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, democratic socialism, left-wing populism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism
Some of the spending has gone towards extramarital affairs, with some girlfriends and ex-wives claiming he impregnates and abandon
West criticized Obama when he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, saying that it would be difficult for Obama to be “a war president with a peace prize”. West further retracted his support for Obama in an April 2011 interview, stating that Obama is “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black muppet of corporate plutocrats. And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it”.[113][114][115] In November 2012, West said in an interview that he considered Obama a “Rockefeller Republican in blackface”.[116]
I’m sort of surprised they couldn’t find a Rosa Parks to stand up for the Bravo Sierra “protection of democracy” lawsuit.
Nobody tells Rosa to stand up.
Bless his black ass, the perfect ticket would be Cornel West and Noam Chomsky!
Would West run with a Jew as a running mate? I doubt it. Mrs. Emhoff rejected a viable Jewish running mate…
He probably would, so long as it was the right kind of Jew. Chomsky counts. He’s an “as a Jew”, who would absolve West of charges of antisemitism, just as Mr Emhoff absolves his Mrs of such charges.
(You’d think Ivanka and her family would likewise absolve Trump, but somehow they don’t, because she’s an actual Jewish Jew. Or something.)