Democratic National Committee officials filed a grievance Wednesday seeking to have the Green Party’s presidential candidate removed from the ballot in Wisconsin’s election, arguing that the party is ineligible.
This is the latest move by the Democratic National Committee to block third-party candidates from getting on the ballot.
Democrats are also trying to block the election of independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in several states.
The appearance of the Green Party on the presidential ballot could change the outcome in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by margins of between 5,700 and about 23,000 votes.
Jill Stein is set to officially become a presidential candidate at the Green Party’s national convention, which begins Thursday.
The Associated Press left email messages with the Green Party and Stein’s campaign on Wednesday afternoon.
Stein last ran for the Green Party in Wisconsin in 2016, receiving just over 31,000 votes — more than the nearly 23,000 votes that Donald Trump won that year.
Some Democrats have accused Stein of helping Trump win the state and the presidential election.
The nonpartisan Elections Commission in February unanimously approved this year’s Green Party presidential candidate on the ballot because the party received more than 1% of the vote in the 2022 statewide election.
Green Party candidate Sharyl McFarland came in last, receiving about 1.6% of the vote in the four-way race for secretary of state.
But a complaint filed with the committee by a Democratic National Committee staffer argues that the Green Party cannot nominate presidential electors in Wisconsin and, without one, is barred from placing a presidential candidate on the ballot.
State law requires that the people who nominate electors in October must be state officials, including state legislators, judges and others. They can also be candidates for the state legislature.
The lawsuit claims that the Green Party does not have anyone qualified to serve as nominee and therefore cannot lawfully nominate candidates for the presidential electoral roll, as required by law.
The complaint says the Green Party could have conducted write-in ballot campaigns for legislative candidates in Tuesday’s primary election, but did not do so and therefore could not have filed charges earlier than Wednesday.
“We take the presidential and vice presidential nomination process very seriously and believe all candidates should follow the rules,” Adrienne Watson, a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. “The Green Party of Wisconsin has not fielded any candidates for Congress or statewide office, and because there are no sitting Congressional or statewide office holders, we cannot nominate candidates and they should not appear on the ballot in the November election.”
This is not the first time the Green Party’s voting eligibility has been challenged.
In 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the Wisconsin State Election Commission’s decision to remove a Green Party presidential candidate from the ballot after they could not agree on whether the candidate had filed the proper paperwork.
This year, in addition to Republicans, Democrats and the Green Party, the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party are on the ballot.
The committee will meet on Aug. 27 to determine whether four independent presidential candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, meet the requirements to appear on the ballot.
DNC officials have asked that the committee consider the complaints at that meeting as well.
In several battleground states, including Wisconsin, there are signs that people behind third-party candidates are using deceptive tactics to try to influence the outcome of the presidential election, mostly in Trump’s favor.
Their aim is to offer a left-leaning third-party option that can siphon off thousands of protest votes.
of Latest Marquette Law School Poll The survey, conducted between July 24 and August 1, showed that the presidential race between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Trump was roughly neck and neck among Wisconsin voters.
Stein’s approval rating was barely 1%, while Kennedy’s was 6%.
The complaint was filed by David Strange, deputy director of operations for the Wisconsin chapter of the Democratic National Committee.
