Judge disqualifies Cornel West from running for president in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia state court judge on Wednesday disqualified independent presidential candidate Cornel West from running for president in the state, ruling that West’s electors didn’t file the proper paperwork.

For now at least, the decision means votes for West won’t be counted in Georgia, although his name will remain on ballots because the judge said it’s too late to remove it.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox ruled it was too late to order new ballots printed, with military and overseas ballots scheduled to be mailed starting Tuesday. Instead, Cox ordered the state to post notices in polling places warning West had been disqualified and votes for him would be void, a common remedy in Georgia for late election changes.

A ruling was also expected late Wednesday on whether Claudia De la Cruz could stay on Georgia ballots. The nominee for the Party of Socialism and Liberation technically qualified for the Georgia ballot as an independent, but Democrats have argued she should be excluded for the same reason that applied to West.

Beyond De la Cruz, presidential choices for Georgia voters will include Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Kamala Harris, Libertarian Chase Oliver and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. That total of five candidates would be the most since 1948.

Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians automatically qualify for elections in Georgia.

Lawyers for West and for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger did not immediately say whether they would appeal.

Wednesday’s ruling was the latest turn in the on-again, off-again saga of ballot access for independent and third-party candidates in Georgia. An administrative law judge disqualified West, De la Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Georgia