MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) – Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stone will remain on the ballot in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin after the state Supreme Court decided on Monday not to hear a lawsuit filed by Democrats seeking her removal.
Democrats fear that third-party candidates could take votes away from the vice president Kamala Harris and help the Republicans Donald Trump Wisconsin. The presence of independent and third-party candidates on the ballot could be a deciding factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by 5,700 to 23,000 votes.
The court decided not to hear the lawsuit brought by David Strange, a Democratic National Committee official, who had sought to disqualify Stein from the election. Strange argued that the Green Party could not nominate electors in Wisconsin because the party had no officers or candidates for the state legislature who had the authority to nominate electors.
The Greens and the Republicans responded that the party met all legal requirements and that Stein should therefore remain on the ballot.
Stein was last on the Wisconsin ballot in 2016, when she received just over 31,000 votes – more than Trump’s margin of nearly 23,000 votes. Some Democrats have accused her of helping Trump win the state and the presidency this year.
Strange had challenged a decision by the Wisconsin Elections Commission in February to grant ballot rights to the Green Party. The commission did so because a candidate from the party received more than 1% of the vote in a 2022 statewide election, meeting a legal requirement. Sheryl McFarland received nearly 1.6% of the vote and finished last in a four-candidate race for secretary of state.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to confirm which candidates can appear on the ballot. Democrats are also challenging the inclusion of independent candidate Cornel West on the ballot. A Republican National Committee staffer is challenging the candidacy of independent candidate Shiva Ayyadurai.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court disqualified Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins from running in 2020 after the election commission could not agree on whether he had submitted the correct nomination signatures.
