News / 2020 ELECTIONS / Politics

Rigged election: Green Party kicked off Pennsylvania ballot

Saturday, 19 September 2020 3:34 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 04 October 2020 11:15 AM ]

Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins has been taken off Pennsylvania’s ballot by the state Supreme Court. (File photo)

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that Green Party candidates cannot be on the state’s ballot this election cycle, a move decried by critics as an attempt by Democrats to rig the election in the battleground state.

In a 5-2 decision this week, the high court ruled that the Green Party did not follow proper procedures for appearing on Pennsylvania’s ballot, handing a victory to Democrats who are trying to solidify their support in the crucial swing state.

The rulings come following court challenges from the state Democratic Party, which fears the Green Party has the potential to take votes away from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Earlier this year, the Green Party substituted Howie Hawkins for Elizabeth Faye Scroggin as its presidential candidate.

The high court said the party failed to properly follow procedures when submitting Hawkins' nomination paperwork to get on the ballot.

The Green Party "failed to comply with the Election Code's strict mandate" for how nomination paperwork must be handled, the court ruled. It also decided that a similar substitution effort to get Angela Walker on the ballot as the party’s vice presidential nominee was also invalid.

'Legal shenanigans'

Hawkins' campaign manager, Andrea Mérida Cuéllar, accused the Democrats of playing "legal shenanigans just to knock legitimate competition off of the ballot.”

“I think that they should be afraid of having Greens on the ballot because their party is not offering anything that the working class of this country is actually asking for. We are," he said.

The ruling removed the final obstacle blocking Pennsylvania from sending out absentee ballots to voters. The state’s mail-in voting was in limbo while the litigation played out in court.

The Democratic Party has been attempting to ease absentee voting in Pennsylvania amid the coronavirus pandemic, and to secure a surge in mail-in ballots.

One of the changes set by the court ruling is that election officials are now allowed to count absentee ballots three days after the election.

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