Pennsylvania high court rules against two third-party candidates trying for presidential ballot

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's Supreme Court on Friday sided with lower court decisions to block two third-party presidential candidates from the battleground state's ballot in November's election.

The decisions hand a win apiece to each major party, as Democratic and Republican party loyalists work to fend off third-party candidates for fear of siphoning votes away from their parties’ presidential nominees in a state critical to winning the White House.

Pennsylvania is of such importance that Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris have heavily traveled the state, where a margin of just tens of thousands of votes delivered victory to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2016.

Rejected from appearing on the Nov. 5 ballot were Constitution Party presidential candidate James Clymer — a placeholder for the conservative party's presidential nominee — and Claudia De la Cruz of the left-wing Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Judges on the state's lower Commonwealth Court had agreed with Democratic Party-aligned challengers to De la Cruz and with Republican Party-aligned challengers to Clymer.

In the De la Cruz case, the judge found that seven of the party’s 19 presidential electors named in the paperwork were registered as Democrats and thus violated a political disaffiliation provision in the law. State law bars minor-party candidates from being registered with a major political party within 30 days of the primary election.

In the Clymer case, the judge found that four of the party's 19 presidential electors did not submit candidate affidavits, as required, by the Aug. 1 deadline.

One other court challenge remained ongoing Friday: a Democratic-aligned challenge to independent presidential candidate Cornel West, a left-wing academic whose effort to get on Pennsylvania's ballot was aided by a lawyer with deep Republican Party ties.

Thus far, two third-party candidates have succeeded in getting on Pennsylvania’s ballot. The Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party’s Chase Oliver submitted petitions to get on Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot without being challenged.

Previously, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign, endorsed Donald Trump and ended his effort to fend off a court challenge to his candidacy's paperwork.

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Follow Marc Levy at https://x.com/timelywriter.