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Officials in Georgia say Kennedy and two others have signatures for the presidential election
News Update

Officials in Georgia say Kennedy and two others have signatures for the presidential election

ATLANTA (AP) — Three independent and third-party candidates moved a step closer to their goal of appearing on the Georgia presidential ballot Tuesday, but legal hurdles still lie ahead.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that officials had verified that independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz of the Socialism and Liberation Party each collected more than the required 7,500 signatures to qualify.

Raffensperger said that after county election officials reviewed the petitions, 11,336 signatures were accepted for Kennedy, while 8,075 were accepted for Cornel West and 7,682 were accepted for De la Cruz.

While Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians have safe places on the ballot in Georgia, other parties and independent candidates can qualify by petitioning.

But Democrats in Georgia are still fighting legal efforts to block the three candidates and the Green Party candidate Jill Stone on the ballot in Georgia. It is part of a nationwide effort to block candidates who could siphon off votes from vice presidents Kamala Harris.

Hearings on the Georgia lawsuits are scheduled to begin Monday. After an administrative law judge makes a recommendation, Raffensperger will make a final decision. A decision must be made in time for Georgia to begin mailing military and overseas ballots on Sept. 17.

While some other states regularly put minor party candidates and independents on the ballot, Georgia voters have never had more than four options since 1948. The last time there were candidates other than a Republican, a Democrat and a Libertarian was in 2000, when independent Pat Buchanan qualified for the ballot.

Kennedy was has launched the ballot in New York Earlier this week, when a judge ruled that the suburban New York City address Kennedy listed as his residence in his nomination petitions was a “sham address” he used to maintain his voter registration and pursue his political ambitions. The judge ruled in favor of challengers who argued that Kennedy’s actual residence was the Los Angeles home he shares with his wife, “Cut It, Larry!” actress Cheryl Hines. Kennedy has said he will appeal.

It is unclear whether Kennedy’s home address will play a role in the Georgia hearings. Democrats have claimed that all of the petitions were not properly processed and are therefore invalid. Kennedy campaign member Paul Rossi said in an online press conference on July 31 that there was nothing wrong with the campaign’s petitions. Rossi described the allegations as “throwing spaghetti at the wall.”

“Because they can’t challenge the signatures, they have made allegations that are simply not true at all,” Rossi said.

Until this year, the only way to vote in Georgia was to collect signatures from 7,500 registered voters across the state. But Georgia’s Republican-majority legislature a law passed Directing the Secretary of State to also place candidates of any party that issues ballots in at least 20 other states on the ballot. This move was widely interpreted as an attempt to stir up trouble for Biden, although former President Donald Trump’s Republican campaign also identified the Kennedy campaign as with distrust.

The Greens, who nominated Stein, say they want to apply the 20-state rule for the election in Georgia.

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