{"id":2328712,"date":"2024-08-21T18:48:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T22:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-vision-of-democracy-means-fewer-choices-for-voters\/"},"modified":"2024-08-21T18:52:29","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T22:52:29","slug":"democrats-vision-of-democracy-means-fewer-choices-for-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-vision-of-democracy-means-fewer-choices-for-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats&#8217; Vision Of Democracy Means Fewer Choices For Voters"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-vision-of-democracy-means-fewer-choices-for-voters%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2328712&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses efforts by the\u200d Democratic Party to disqualify several presidential\u200b candidates\u2014Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein, and\u200c Cornel West\u2014from appearing on ballots in various states.\u200b The\u200b candidates face\u200c numerous legal challenges primarily revolving around technicalities, particularly\u200c related to residency requirements. Kennedy, who claims these lawsuits are\u2062 politically motivated, \u2063has expressed frustration over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/weve-identified-450000-ballots-that-miraculously-only-have-a-vote-for-joe-biden-sidney-powell-drops-a-bomb-on-sunday-morning-futures-video\/\" title=\"&quot;We&#039;ve Identified 450,000 Ballots that Miraculously ONLY have a Vote for Joe Biden&quot; - Sidney Powell Drops a BOMB on Sunday Morning Futures (Video)\">legal battles<\/a> that detract \u200cfrom his campaigning. \u2063He argues that the current Democratic Party contrasts starkly with that of his \u200dfather \u200dand uncle, which advocated for\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wow-georgia-judge-who-also-is-stacy-abrams-sister-blocks-elections-officials-from-challenging-voters-who-live-outside-of-registered-district\/\" title=\"WOW! Georgia Judge Who Also Is Stacy Abrams\u2019 Sister BLOCKS Elections Officials from Challenging Voters Who Live Outside of Registered District!\">voting rights<\/a>. Cornel West has also faced ballot access issues, but recently \u200cachieved\u200c a legal victory in North Carolina \u2063that may benefit future\u200c independent candidates. Despite these challenges, \u200bKennedy \u200bclaims \u2064his campaign has been able to qualify for\u200b the ballot in 46 \u200dstates, while West&#8217;s campaign continues to navigate similar obstacles.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Long before you mark your ballot, Democrats are scheming to limit your candidate choices by booting competitors off the ballot.<\/p>\n<p>That is what Democrats are trying to do to presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democrat, Jill Stein of the Green Party, and Cornel West, a former Green Party candidate. All are collecting signatures and trying to get on the presidential ballot in each state; Democrats are fighting them on technicalities.<\/p>\n<p>After all, they can&rsquo;t let voters decide; these candidates are likely to pull votes away from the Democrat ticket. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Instead of campaigning in front of voters, Kennedy and West spend a lot of time and money traveling to courthouses around the country defending against an onslaught of legal cases that could prevent voters from ever having them as a ballot choice.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re suing me all over the country. They&rsquo;re trying to keep me off the ballot,&rdquo; Kennedy said in a social media post Tuesday, while standing in front of a courthouse in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Kennedy left the campaign trail for a court hearing challenging his spot on the ballot, but his plane <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox43.com\/article\/news\/politics\/national-politics\/kennedy-late-ballot-hearing-flight-cancelled-not-allowed-testify\/521-f7a02d47-072b-45a7-b29d-4d569d5f31b3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">was delayed<\/a> and he arrived two hours late. Commonwealth Court Judge Lori Dumas would not allow him to testify. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>My father and my uncle were members of a Democratic Party that was at the forefront of making sure that every American could vote for the candidate they wanted to. <\/p>\n<p>Today&rsquo;s Democratic Party is doing the opposite. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6K3XZ7bXsj\">pic.twitter.com\/6K3XZ7bXsj<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertKennedyJr\/status\/1826074927197466856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Unfortunately, in some of these states we&rsquo;re running into judges who are highly politicized and &hellip; are very, very sympathetic to the DNC,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dumas, a connected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/friendsofjudgedumas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Philadelphia Democrat,<\/a> was elected to the seat in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy is being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pacourts.us\/Storage\/media\/pdfs\/20240808\/230212-386md20248.8.2024robertkennedyandnicoleshanahan(wethepeoplecandidates)part1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sued<\/a> in Pennsylvania by seemingly average Pennsylvania citizens Alexander Reber and Janneken Smucker.<\/p>\n<p>The court papers don&rsquo;t mention that Smucker is a Democrat operative and Reber is the former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.padems.org\/pennsylvania-democratic-party-elects-nancy-patton-mills-as-chair-sen-sharif-street-as-vice-chair-alexander-reber-as-treasurer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">treasurer<\/a> of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, former <a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.plannedparenthood.org\/uploads\/filer_public\/85\/96\/85962f46-1461-4fb4-8135-3194762f992f\/annualreport_2014-2015.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chair<\/a> of Planned Parenthood Keystone Board, and former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/alexander-reber-cpa-mba-3143aa11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vice chair<\/a> of the Dauphin County Democratic Committee.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>They argue that Kennedy falsely listed his residence as New York. This argument has come up in other states. He has three homes, one in California, Massachusetts, and New York. Kennedy says he votes, pays taxes, and practices law in New York, where he grew up and always returns. He had to choose just one state for residency in every state, and New York made the most sense, he said. He believes he may lose the Pennsylvania case but prevail on appeal in a higher court.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We will win this, but it&rsquo;s costing us millions of dollars to defend these cases. Of course, that&rsquo;s what the Democratic Party wants,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an irony to me that the DNC is meeting right now in Chicago &hellip; and everybody&rsquo;s talking about joy and about the need to elect Democrats in order to protect voting rights. And you know, my father and my uncle, the Democratic Party that they were members of was the Democratic Party that was at the forefront of making sure that every American could vote [for] the candidate that they wanted to. But today, the Democratic Party is doing the opposite. It&rsquo;s disenfranchising millions of Americans.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy was challenged in New York over the same residency issue and was recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/13\/rfk-jr-blocked-from-new-york-ballot-after-challenge-from-democrat-aligned-pac\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blocked<\/a> from the ballot.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think my father or my uncle would recognize this Democratic Party,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little disillusioned with the Democratic Party today, but that&rsquo;s why I decided to run as an independent.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>West too, has faced an uphill climb for ballot access. He has been challenged in Maine, Michigan, and North Carolina. Earlier this month, West prevailed in court after the North Carolina State Board of Elections refused to certify his Justice for All Party&rsquo;s efforts to get him on the ballot there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;This ruling &hellip; paves the way for future third-party and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/abandon-biden-rebrands-into-abandon-harris-at-dnc-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Abandon Biden rebrands into Abandon Harris at DNC - Washington Examiner\">independent candidates running<\/a> for office in North Carolina, ensuring that the electoral system is fair and equitable,&rdquo; the West campaign said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornelwest2024.com\/nc_victory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>, adding that future campaigns will be able to reference this lawsuit if they run into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rfk-jr-in-talks-to-run-on-the-libertarian-party-ticket-to-ease-ballot-challenges\/\" title=\"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering a Libertarian Party ticket to simplify ballot hurdles\">ballot access challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennedy24.com\/ballot-access\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kennedy<\/a> campaign website says he has qualified for the ballot in 46 states (though he is still awaiting official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/rfk-jr-map-on-the-ballot-states\/\">confirmation<\/a> from half of those states); <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornelwest2024.com\/ballotaccess\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">West<\/a> claims to be on the ballot in 9 states (and recently qualified in <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/4839225-cornel-west-maine-ballot-2024-presidential-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Maine<\/a>); and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jillstein2024ballotaccess.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stein<\/a> is on the ballot in at least three states (but has access to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/us\/politics\/presidential-candidates-third-party-independent.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nearly 20<\/a> as the Green Party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?537768-101\/jill-stein-accepts-green-party-presidential-nomination\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nominee<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The Democrat move to kick challengers off the ballot is nothing new.<\/p>\n<p>As detailed in The Federalist&rsquo;s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Rigged-Media-Democrats-Seized-Elections\/dp\/168451259X\/\">book <\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Rigged-Media-Democrats-Seized-Elections\/dp\/168451259X\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rigged: <\/a>How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections<\/em>, the Democrat strategy of suppressing competing parties and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jd-vance-takes-lead-in-ohio-senate-republican-primary\/\" title=\"JD Vance Takes Lead in Ohio Senate Republican Primary\">candidates worked<\/a> in 2020 to keep the Green Party off the ballot in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic National Committee <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/wisconsin-jill-stein-harris-trump-lawsuit-1c69023c94ac0c3fcf4c23b361b9159a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tried to remove<\/a> the Green Party from the ballot again this year, this time in Wisconsin, but last week the Wisconsin Election Commission dismissed the complaint, keeping the Green Party on the ballot.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before you cast your vote, Democrats are working to restrict your options by removing rival candidates from the ballot. This is the strategy being employed against presidential hopefuls Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democrat, Jill Stein of the Green Party, and Cornel West, who previously ran with the Green Party. Each of these candidates is gathering signatures to secure their place on state ballots while facing opposition from Democrats over technical issues. The concern for Democrats is that these candidates could siphon votes away from their party.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of engaging directly with voters, Kennedy and West find themselves spending significant time and resources in courthouses nationwide as they defend against numerous legal challenges aimed at keeping them off ballots. &#8220;They\u2019re suing me all over the country. They\u2019re trying to keep me off the ballot,&#8221; Kennedy stated in a social media post while outside a courthouse in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He had left his campaign activities for a court hearing regarding his ballot eligibility but arrived two hours late due to flight delays; Judge Lori Dumas did not permit him to testify.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy expressed disappointment that today&#8217;s Democratic Party contrasts sharply with what it once stood for\u2014ensuring every American could vote for their preferred candidate. He noted that some judges appear biased towards the Democratic National Committee (DNC), citing Dumas&#8217;s connections as a Philadelphia Democrat elected in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In Pennsylvania, Kennedy faces lawsuits from individuals who seem like ordinary citizens but have ties to Democratic organizations; one is an operative while another has held leadership roles within local Democratic committees. They claim he inaccurately listed New York as his residence despite owning homes in California and Massachusetts as well; he argues that New York makes sense given his voting history and professional ties there.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy anticipates losing this case but hopes for success on appeal: &#8220;We will win this, but it\u2019s costing us millions of dollars to defend these cases,&#8221; he remarked about what he sees as an intentional strategy by Democrats to undermine him financially.<\/p>\n<p>West has also encountered difficulties gaining access to ballots across several states including Maine and North Carolina but recently achieved victory when North Carolina&#8217;s State Board of Elections was ordered by a court ruling not to block his candidacy under his Justice for All Party banner.<\/p>\n<p>According to campaign updates: Kennedy claims qualification in 46 states (pending confirmation), West asserts he&#8217;s on nine ballots (recently qualifying in Maine), while Stein has secured spots on at least three state ballots with potential access nearing twenty due her position as Green Party nominee.<\/p>\n<p>The tactic of disqualifying challengers isn&#8217;t new; historical accounts indicate similar strategies were used during previous elections such as those detailed by Mollie Hemingway regarding efforts made during 2020 against third-party candidates like those from the Green Party in key states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin\u2014where recent attempts again failed when Wisconsin Election Commission upheld their right on the ballot despite DNC objections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":2328713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/RFK-FLICKER-.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[5521,3685,38873],"class_list":["post-2328712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-democracy","tag-democrats","tag-voter-choices"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/RFK-FLICKER-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2328712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2328713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2328712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2328712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2328712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}