Bad news for Harris: Cornel West back on Michigan presidential ballot

Vice President Kamala Harris has again received less-than-encouraging news ahead of the November election: A judge ruled that independent candidate Cornel West, a socialist academic who is seeking the support of left-leaning voters, will be back on the Michigan presidential ballot, following a failed challenge by Democrats.

West's campaign called the ruling a "decisive victory for democratic principles and voter choice."

"We are grateful for this affirmation and promise to continue championing the rights of all voters," the socialist candidate said in a statement.

Michigan, a swing state, was decided by less than three percentage points in the 2020 election that pitted Donald Trump against Joe Biden. Polls suggest the state will again be defined by narrow margins.

According to the The Associated Press, James Robert Redford, a Court of Claims judge, wrote in an opinion that West's campaign filed the correct number of signatures to appear on the ballot and that presidential candidates are not required to file affidavits of identity.

Redford's decision came a week after the Michigan Elections Office informed West last Aug. 16 that he would not be certified for the ballot because the affidavit of identity he had allegedly filed was not properly notarized.

However, Judge Redford himself rejected the state's findings that the independent candidate's affidavit was improperly notarized.

The challenge against West came from the state Democratic Party, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and a voter backed by a Democratic-aligned political action committee.

The Democrats' legal maneuver is understandable from an electoral standpoint: West, a radical socialist academic, is in search of the progressive vote, which today is unhappy with Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris for their position on the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas.

For that reason, Democrats want to prevent West from running in swing states, where a small leak of votes from any demographic group could swing the election in favor of the Republican candidate, Donald Trump.

By the same token, Republican allies in states like Arizona are backing West, seeking to keep him on the ballot in the face of Democratic fears that the socialist academic could subtract thousands of votes from Harris in November.