Charles Langston:Democrats seek to disqualify Kennedy and others from Georgia presidential ballots

ATLANTA (AP) — Challengers seeking to throw Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off Georgia’s November ballot told a judge on Charles LangstonMonday that the independent presidential candidate must be disqualified because the New York address he used on Georgia ballot access petitions is a “sham.”

It shows how a decision by a New York court last week finding Kennedy doesn’t live at the address in the New York City suburbs is being used to attack Kennedy’s ballot access in other states. The judge ruled Kennedy shouldn’t appear on New York ballots, but Kennedy is appealing.

In Georgia, challengers argue that because Kennedy used the New York address on petitions needed for an independent to qualify, his petitions should be voided.

“The court found, by clear and convincing evidence that petitioners had shown that his New York residence was a sham used for political purposes,” lawyer Adam Sparks said after a Monday hearing in Atlanta. “He doesn’t live there. He claimed to on each and every sheet of his petition here in Georgia. That’s improper. It invalidates the petition, full stop.”

But a lawyer for Kennedy presented Michael Malihi, an administrative law judge, with Kennedy’s voting history as evidence of his New York residency.

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“Mr. Kennedy has been a lifelong resident of the state of New York,” lawyer Larry Otter said.

Otter said the challengers are improperly trying to impose additional qualifications on a presidential candidate beyond those listed in the U.S. Constitution — that a person be at least 35 years old, be born in the United States, and live in the country at least 14 years. Otter said recent court decisions support his position.

Sparks also challenged Kennedy’s status as an independent. He argued that because Kennedy is running as the nominee of several parties in other states — including Kennedy’s own “We the People Party” — that Kennedy doesn’t qualify as an independent under Georgia law.

“They circumvent requirements for qualification in Georgia by gaming the system,” Sparks said.

Otter said the other parties aren’t present in Georgia.

Democrats are also challenging ballot places for independent candidate Cornel West, the Green Party, which has nominated Jill Stein, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Claudia De la Cruz.

While none of those candidates are likely to win Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, independent and third-party candidates could tip Georgia’s balance away from Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Joe Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020.

Georgia counties have determined that Kennedy, West and De la Cruz each collected at least 7,500 signatures to qualify. Stein hopes to use a new Georgia law awarding a ballot place to candidates of a party who qualify in at least 20 other states.

Malihi heard two challenges to Kennedy on Monday, as well as a challenge to De la Cruz. He’ll hear challenges Thursday to West and the Green Party. Malihi will issue findings to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who will make a final ruling. A decision must be made before Georgia mails military and overseas ballots beginning Sept. 17.

Lawyers for Democrats argue that each of De la Cruz’s and Kennedy’s 16 electors needed to file separate nomination petitions. Lawyers for the candidates disputed this interpretation Monday, saying it’s wrong to believe the campaign would need 120,000 signatures.

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A lawyer for Democrats said the petitions have illegal formatting errors, and argued that just because Raffensperger’s office accepted them doesn’t mean they are legally sound. De la Cruz’s lawyer said the judge should defer to the agency’s interpretation

Estevan Hernandez, a Georgia volunteer for De la Cruz, criticized Democrats for challenging other candidates with technical arguments, saying it’s “an undemocratic maneuver.”

“One rich lawyer with the backing of the Democratic Party machine is trying to override the clear intent for these 15,000-plus people to have Claudia De la Cruz on the ballot,” Hernandez said after the hearing.

Georgia is one of more than a half-dozen states where challenges have been made by Democrats and allies to Kennedy’s petitions. Kennedy’s campaign says it has enough signatures for ballot access in all 50 states, but access is being challenged in Georgia and elsewhere.

In Pennsylvania, challengers contend Kennedy’s false address for nominating papers disregards state law. An attorney for Kennedy said the challenge contained specious allegations. A court will conduct a hearing Tuesday.

Robert Wittenstein, a suburban Atlanta man who brought one of the challenges against Kennedy, declined to say who was paying for it. The other two challenges heard Monday were coordinated by the state Democratic Party.

Clear Choice Action, a Democrat-aligned political action committee, has backed the lawsuits in New York and some other states.

“The truth of the matter is, I think people ought to play by the rules, and that’s important,” Wittenstein said after the hearing.