![Jill Stein Jill Stein](https://thefederalistwire.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2023/11/Federalist-Wire-2023-11-09T164030.425-696x436.jpg)
The Left are desperate. They want to win the 2024 election even if it means trying to bend the rules in their favor.
And the Democrats’ latest efforts to ban this presidential candidate from the ballot has voters fuming.
A Democratic National Committee (DNC) employee has officially lodged a complaint seeking to disqualify the Green Party’s presidential candidate from appearing on Wisconsin’s ballot.
The complaint, filed on Wednesday, argues that the Green Party is ineligible under state law, setting the stage for another intense battle over third-party candidates in a crucial swing state.
This move is the latest in a series of efforts by the DNC to limit third-party candidates’ influence in the 2024 election.
Democrats are also actively working to prevent independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from appearing on ballots in multiple states.
Wisconsin’s importance in the presidential race cannot be overstated. In four of the past six elections, the state’s results have hinged on a margin of just 5,700 to 23,000 votes.
The presence of a third-party candidate like the Green Party’s nominee could be a significant factor in such a closely contested state.
Jill Stein is widely expected to secure the Green Party’s nomination at the party’s national convention, which begins on Thursday. The Associated Press reached out to both the Green Party and Stein’s campaign for comments.
Stein last appeared on Wisconsin’s ballot in 2016, where she garnered just over 31,000 votes—a number greater than Donald Trump’s winning margin in the state, which was just under 23,000 votes.
Some Democrats have since blamed Stein for Trump’s victory in Wisconsin, and by extension, his overall win in the presidential race.
The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission had unanimously granted the Green Party ballot access earlier this year, citing the party’s performance in a statewide race in 2022, where candidate Sharyl McFarland secured nearly 1.6% of the vote in a four-way race for secretary of state.
However, the new complaint filed by the DNC employee challenges the legality of the Green Party’s participation. It claims that the party cannot legally nominate presidential electors in Wisconsin, a requirement for placing a presidential candidate on the ballot.
According to state law, those who nominate electors must be state officers, such as members of the Legislature or judges, or candidates for the Legislature—criteria that the Green Party currently does not meet.
The complaint further argues that since the Green Party did not mount any write-in campaigns for legislative candidates in Tuesday’s primary, the challenge could not have been filed earlier. Adrienne Watson, a senior adviser to the DNC, emphasized the importance of adhering to the rules, stating, “We take the nomination process for President and Vice President very seriously and believe every candidate should follow the rules.”
This is not the first time the Green Party’s ballot status has faced legal challenges in Wisconsin. In 2020, the state’s Supreme Court ultimately barred the Green Party’s presidential candidate from appearing on the ballot due to a deadlock in the Wisconsin Elections Commission over paperwork issues.
This year, Wisconsin voters are set to see not just the Republican, Democratic, and Green parties on the ballot, but also the Constitution and Libertarian parties. On August 27, the Elections Commission will decide whether four independent candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, have met the requirements to be included on the ballot.
The DNC employee who filed the complaint, David Strange, has requested that the commission also review the Green Party’s eligibility during that meeting. There are growing concerns in swing states like Wisconsin that third-party candidates could be strategically used to sway the election in favor of Donald Trump by diverting votes from the Democratic nominee.
Recent polling by Marquette University Law School, conducted from July 24 to August 1, shows the presidential race in Wisconsin as a tight contest between Democrat Kamala Harris and Trump. Stein has minimal support, polling at around 1%, while Kennedy holds 6%.
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