Georgia court could reject counting presidential votes for Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism during a Tuesday hearing that votes for presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz should count, possibly setting the stage for disqualifying them from the battleground state’s ballots.

Democrats who are trying to prevent other candidates from siphoning votes from Vice President Kamala Harris argue that West and De la Cruz failed to qualify because their presidential electors did not each submit a separate petition with the 7,500 signatures needed to access Georgia’s ballots. Instead, only one petition per candidate was submitted.

West and De la Cruz qualified as independents in Georgia, although De la Cruz is the nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

If justices disqualify West and De la Cruz, their names would likely appear on Georgia’s ballots, although votes for them wouldn’t be counted. Elizabeth Young, a lawyer for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told justices that it’s too late to reprint ballots, in part because not enough watermarked security paper is available. There could also be problems with reprogramming voting machines.

If ordered to disqualify the candidates, Young said Raffensperger could order notices in polling places and mailed-out ballots warning that votes for West and De la Cruz won’t count, a common remedy for late ballot changes in Georgia.

Chief Justice Michael Boggs pledged a decision “as soon as possible.”

If West and De la Cruz are disqualified, Georgia voters would have the choice of four presidential candidates — Harris for the Democrats, Republican Donald Trump, Libertarian Chase Oliver and the Green Party’s Jill Stein.

Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians automatically qualify for