Michigan disqualifies presidential candidate Cornel West from November ballot

The Michigan Bureau of Elections on Friday disqualified independent presidential candidate Cornel West, the civil rights activist and philosopher, along with his running mate from appearing on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot over a technical violation of state law.

Jonathan Brater, Michigan's elections director, wrote the West campaign a letter dated Friday saying that the affidavits of identity submitted to the Secretary of State's Office in June for West and his vice presidential running mate, Melina Abdullah, were not properly notarized.

The West campaign did not immediately respond to an email from the Free Press about the disqualification on Friday.

Brater's letter, which gave West five days to provide evidence to rebut the disqualification, said the West campaign was informed on July 26 about a challenge to the affidavits brought by former Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer and given until Aug. 2 to respond. The letter said the West campaign still hadn't responded to the challenge as of Friday.

Brater said West's affidavit of identity was notarized in Colorado and was required to meet that state's rules for proper notarization in order to be proper in Michigan. The letter said there were several defects, however, including unfilled blanks on the form, the notary's public stamp being sent on a separate sheet of paper and the notary failing to identify what specific notarial act she was engaged in.

"Your affidavit of identity was not notarized in compliance with the laws of the state where it was notarized (Colorado), and therefore is not a valid notarization under the Michigan Law on Notarial Acts," Brater wrote, saying there was no need to consider the challenge to West's running mate since she would only have been on the ballot if he had been.

In a news release on June 20, the West campaign said it had submitted more than enough petition signatures to make the Michigan ballot as an independent candidate for president. "We are confident that the support we've garnered, especially from communities that feel unheard, will translate into substantial voter turnout," West said at the time.

Polls, however, have shown him not being much of a factor in the presidential race in Michigan or nationally. The RealClearPolitics.com average of national polls shows him currently fifth out of five candidates, with the support of less than 1% of voters and trailing Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee; Republican former President Donald Trump, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. West also has less than 1% support in the Michigan average of polls.

According to a map compiled by the New York Times, West is on the ballot in just five states, Alaska, Colorado, South Carolina, Oregon and Vermont.

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan disqualifies Cornel West from November ballot