Pennsylvania court rejects Cornel West's bid to get on ballot and clears way for mail voting

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that rejected a bid to get independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the ballot for the November election in the battleground state.

The courts sided with the secretary of state’s office under Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in rejecting West’s candidacy paperwork. The decision also sets in motion the process for counties to start printing, testing and sending out mail-in ballots to voters who requested one ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Within hours of the court’s decision, Secretary of State Al Schmidt certified the ballot for counties.

“Counties can now prepare their ballots to be printed, then begin sending mail ballots to voters who have requested one as soon as they are printed,” Schmidt said in a statement.

The court case had been among a raft of partisan legal maneuvering around third-party candidates, as backers of Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris had aimed to derail third-party candidates who might siphon away support — or to help others who might hurt their opponent.

In an unsigned one-page order, the state Supreme Court said it had affirmed the lower Commonwealth Court decision. In it, the court had agreed with Schmidt’s office that West’s campaign lacked the required affidavits for 14 of West’s 19 presidential electors.

The deadline to submit them was Aug. 1.

Now, Trump and Harris will appear on Pennsylvania’s ballot with the Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party’s Chase Oliver. Stein and Oliver submitted petitions to get on Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot without being challenged.

The Nov. 5 election is expected to be close in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes are tied with Illinois for fifth-most, and arguably are the most awarded by any battleground state.

Counties, which typically send out mail-in ballots weeks before the election to voters who request them, have been waiting for the court to rule on the final ballot-access cases. Now that it has, county election officials say they will need time to test, print and mail the ballots.

That process could drag into October, depending on the county.

Under state law, counties must start delivering or mailing the official mail-in ballots to voters who applied for one as soon as a ballot is certified and available.

Counties may also have mail-in ballots available earlier for over-the-counter service for voters who come into a county election office and apply for a ballot in person.

The deadline for counties to receive a completed mail-in ballot is when polls close, by law, at 8 p.m. on Election Day. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Oct. 29, one week before the Nov. 5 election.