The two major political parties are battling over the ability of third-party candidates to run in Wisconsin’s November presidential election, a dispute that suggests concerns about how those candidates could affect final vote totals in a state where statewide elections are often exceptionally close.
On Wednesday, a Democratic National Committee employee filed a complaint against the Green Party, arguing that it is not eligible to vote in Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) voted in February to allow the Green Party on the ballot because it had received at least 1% of the vote in a statewide election in 2022. Green Party candidate Sharyl McFarland received 1.6% of the vote in the state treasurer election that same year, which featured four candidates.
However, the lawsuit argues that the party cannot nominate electors for president in Wisconsin and that without electors, the party cannot be on the ballot. State law requires that electors nominated in October must be state officials, which includes members of the legislature, judges and others. Candidates for the legislature can also be electors.
The Statutes states that the electors “shall be candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives nominated by each political party in the primary election, and the state officers of each political party, and the senators of each political party who have held their seats in the state.”
The complaint alleges that the Greens do not have anyone who meets the requirements and therefore cannot be on the ballot.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is expected to accept the party’s nomination at its convention this week. Stein was on the ballot in 2016 and received just over 31,000 votes. Democrats say Stein’s 2016 candidacy contributed to Donald Trump’s victory in the state, when he defeated Hillary Clinton by about 23,000 votes.
“We take the nomination process for president and vice president very seriously and believe every candidate should follow the rules,” said Adrienne Watson, senior adviser to the DNC, in a opinion“Because the Wisconsin Green Party has not nominated candidates for legislative or state office and currently has no legislative or state incumbents, it cannot nominate candidates and should not be on the ballot in November.”
Dr. Michael White, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, says the claim that the Green Party was a spoiler in 2016 is a “red herring” because many Green Party voters did not vote for Clinton anyway. He adds that trying to shut the party out of the election this year could backfire.
“Many Green Party supporters simply wouldn’t vote for anyone,” White told the Wisconsin Examiner. “We have more than 5,000 voters in our database. Yes, we are a small party. Only a small number will vote for the Democratic candidate, some will vote for Trump in protest, some will sign Jill Stein’s name, some will vote libertarian or communist. It will not gain Democrats any additional votes. The main effect (of banning Stein from the election) will be to drive voters away from the Democratic Party.”
White added that he would rather vote for “a name in the phone book” than for Trump. He also said he has donated to and campaigned for Democratic candidates who are on the lower ballots. However, if the attempt to block Stein is successful, he will stop that support. He also believes the complaint is unfounded because the party’s coordinating committee is considered its “public officials” who are legally allowed to serve as presidential electors.
Cornel West and Robert Kennedy Jr. also want voting rights
On Wednesday, USA Today reported that Republican Party officials also attempted to support the presidential campaign of progressive activist Cornel West in Wisconsin by collecting signatures in support of his third-party campaign.
Independent candidates must collect at least 2,000 signatures to be eligible to run for president in Wisconsin.
David Blair, executive director of the Conservative Leadership PAC and former national director of Youth for Trump in 2016, leads an advisory group working to collect signatures.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also running an independent presidential campaign. Polls show single-digit support for all outside candidates, but they are believed to be stealing potential votes from the two major party candidates. West and Stein are widely seen as voters for Vice President Kamala Harris, while recent Surveys show how Kennedy is stealing votes from Trump.
In 2020, the major parties also fought over access for independent candidates to the Wisconsin ballot. Kanye West was not allowed on the ballot in Wisconsin because his campaign missed the filing deadline by minutes, and the Green Party was disqualified from the election because filing materials contained incorrect addresses.
In the case of the Green Party, Republican Election Commissioner Robert Spindell assisted the party in finding election lawyers based in the state, the Examiner said. reportedThe Supreme Court of the State governed with a 4-3 decision not to allow the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates to stand for election.
The WEC will meet on August 27 to vote on the eligibility of independent candidates.
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