There is no better way for Democrats to show their love for “democracy” than to remove their political opponents from the ballot.
That’s exactly what happened in Michigan on Friday, when the state election office, which reports to Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office, abruptly removed left-wing presidential candidate Cornel West from the November ballot.
In his letter to West’s campaign, Elections Director Jonathan Brater claimed, as described by USA Today, that “the identity statements filed with the Department of State in June for West and his vice presidential candidate, Melina Abdullah, had not been properly notarized.” Former state Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer reportedly challenged the statements on July 23 as part of his work for Clear Choice Action, a Democratic-affiliated super PAC that seeks to keep left-leaning third-party presidential candidates off the November ballot.
According to Brater, West’s campaign team was first notified of the challenge on July 26 and did not respond by the August 2 deadline.
“Your affidavit of identity was not notarized in accordance with the laws of the state in which it was notarized (Colorado) and is therefore not a valid certification under the Michigan Law on Notarial Acts,” the election official wrote.
According to USA Today, Brater gave the West campaign five days to file a rebuttal to the disqualification.
The Democrats’ effort to keep West off the Michigan ballot this fall is not an anomaly, but part of a targeted effort to deny left-wing candidates who could threaten Vice President Kamala Harris’s electoral prospects access to the ballots in swing states.
Last Wednesday, David Strange, a representative of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) seeking to block the Green Party from placing a presidential candidate (Jilly Stein) on the state’s ballot in November. Strange filed a similar complaint earlier this month challenging West’s eligibility to vote in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The WEC dismissed Strange’s complaint against the Green Party on Friday, arguing that, as the Associated Press summarized, the complaint “names commissioners as defendants who are ethically unable to adjudicate a matter brought against them.” A DNC official reportedly claimed the organization plans to file a lawsuit to remove Stein from the Wisconsin 2024 ballot.
A Democratic-led effort to remove Stein from Nevada’s fall ballot was shot down by a state judge last week.
Democrats have also tried to remove independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the November ballot in several swing states, such as North Carolina and Pennsylvania. They recently succeeded in convincing a Democratic judge to remove Kennedy from the New York 2024 ballot.
This tactic mirrors a strategy that leftists have used in previous elections to help Democrats.
Shawn Fleetwood is an editor at The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a content writer for the Convention of States Action and his work has appeared in numerous media outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter at @ShawnFleetwood
