MADISON, Wis. – On Monday, Wisconsin's Supreme Court, which leans left, rejected efforts by the Democratic Party to exclude Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein from the ballot for the upcoming election.
David Strange, the Deputy Operations Director for Wisconsin within the Democratic National Committee, filed a petition in his individual capacity to have Stein removed from the ballot. Democrats expressed concern that Stein's presence on the ballot could siphon votes from Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, potentially aiding former President Donald Trump in winning the critical swing state. A victory in Wisconsin could be crucial for Trump in securing the 270 electoral votes needed for reelection.
The lawsuit argued that the Green Party should be disqualified from appearing on the ballot because they lacked candidates for state office and had no officeholders in Wisconsin eligible to nominate presidential electors.
“This is a big win against the anti-Democratic Party's war on democracy and voter choice,” Stein said in a statement following the decision. “The Democrats constantly preach about ‘saving democracy,' when in reality, they've been doing everything they can to crush democracy by trying to remove the Green Party and others from the ballot.”
Stein played a notable role in the 2016 election in Wisconsin, where she received about 31,000 votes, roughly 1% of the total votes cast in the state. While her share of the vote was small, it became significant because Donald Trump's margin of victory over Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin was just around 22,000 votes.
This led many political analysts and commentators to argue that Stein's presence on the ballot may have influenced the outcome in Wisconsin by drawing votes away from Hillary Clinton. This situation became part of a broader narrative about the potential impact of third-party candidates on election results, especially in key swing states.
While Stein wasn't a candidate in 2020, her impact in 2016 remained a point of discussion, contributing to ongoing debates about the role and influence of third-party candidates in closely contested elections.
The latest RealClearPolitics polling average in Wisconsin shows Harris leading Trump by a 1-point margin.
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By this Democrats reasoning All candidates but theirs should be taken off the ballot so they will not draw votes away and allow someone else to win.
Seems like modern Democrat power grab to anyone else?