ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism during a Tuesday hearing that votes for presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz should count, possibly setting the stage for disqualifying them from the battleground state's ballots.
Democrats who are trying to prevent other candidates from siphoning votes from Vice President Kamala Harris argue that West and De la Cruz failed to qualify because their presidential electors did not each submit a separate petition with the 7,500 signatures needed to access Georgia's ballots. Instead, only one petition per candidate was submitted.
West and De la Cruz qualified as independents in Georgia, although De la Cruz is the nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
If justices disqualify West and De la Cruz, their names would likely appear on Georgia's ballots, although votes for them wouldn't be counted. Elizabeth Young, a lawyer for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told justices that it's too late to reprint ballots, in part because not enough watermarked security paper is available. There could also be problems with reprogramming voting machines.
If ordered to disqualify the candidates, Young said Raffensperger could order notices in polling places and mailed-out ballots warning that votes for West and De la Cruz won't count, a common remedy for late ballot changes in Georgia.
Chief Justice Michael Boggs pledged a decision “as soon as possible."
If West and De la Cruz are disqualified, Georgia voters would have the choice of four presidential candidates — Harris for the Democrats, Republican Donald Trump, Libertarian Chase Oliver and the Green Party's Jill Stein.
Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians automatically qualify for elections in Georgia. Even four candidates would be the most since 2000 in Georgia. Six would be the most since 1948.
Tuesday's legal argument focused on how justices should interpret the interplay of a 2017 federal court that lowered the signature threshold for statewide ballot access to 7,500 and later changes to state election law.
“In this case, the secretary had a decision to make, and it was a difficult one,” Young said of Raffensperger's decision to place West and De la Cruz on the ballot. “The decision he made was sound and is not subject to legal error and wasn't clearly erroneous.”
But two lower court judges in Atlanta disagreed in separate decisions, ordering West and De la Cruz disqualified. And justices seemed to suggest that those judges got it right, repeatedly asking about provisions of state law that appear to require each elector for an independent candidate to file a separate petition.
Bryan Tyson, a lawyer for West, told judges that requiring separate petitions for each elector would go against the principles of lowering ballot access barriers that spurred the 2017 federal court decision won by the Green Party.
“Ultimately it would require an interpretation of the statute that would say you have to do electors and you have to have way more than 7,500 signatures. And that just can’t be the constitutional answer,” Tyson told reporters after the hearing.
Sachin Varghese, a lawyer for the Democratic Party arguing to disqualify West and De la Cruz, told the justices that the plain wording of the law is “fatal” to that argument, saying the elector is the candidate who must file a petition, and not the actual presidential nominee.
“There is simply no way to read the statute and conclude the elector is not a candidate,” Varghese told justices.
Georgia is one of several states where Democrats have challenged third-party and independent candidates, seeking to block nominees who could take votes from Harris after President Joe Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020.
“At the very point when the Democratic Party is trying to say that they’re the only one standing up for democracy against Donald Trump, you see them funding with millions of dollars, backed by their super PACs, attempting to throw third parties off the ballot all across the country,” Estevan Hernandez, the Georgia co-chair of De la Cruz's campaign, told reporters after the hearing.
Republicans in Georgia have sought to keep all the candidates on the ballot, and the party has pushed to prop up liberal third-party candidates in battleground states.
Those interests have contributed to a flurry of legal activity in Georgia. An administrative law judge disqualified West, De la Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Georgia Green Party from the ballot. Raffensperger, a Republican, overruled the judge, and said West and De la Cruz should get access. He also ruled that, under a new Georgia law, Stein should go on Georgia ballots because the national Green Party qualified her in at least 20 other states.
Kennedy's name stayed off ballots because he withdrew his candidacy in Georgia after suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump.
Claudia De la Cruz, the Party for Socialism and Liberation's 2024 presidential nominee, speaks during an interview on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in a park in Decatur, Ga. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)
Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Boggs and Justice Sarah Warren listen to oral arguments from attorney Elizabeth Young, representing the Secretary of State, at the Supreme Court in Atlanta on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
The Supreme Court of Georgia hears oral arguments in Atlanta on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, as it's set to decide whether minor presidential candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz should be on the November ballot. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Harry said today's youth is in the midst of an “epidemic” of anxiety, depression and social isolation due to negative experiences online, as he brought his campaign to help children and their parents navigate cyberspace to this week's Clinton Global Initiative.
“These platforms are designed to create addiction,” Harry, 40, said in remarks Tuesday in New York City. “Young people are kept there by mindless, endless, numbing scrolling — being force-fed content that no child should ever be exposed to. This is not free will.”
Beyond supporting parents and youth throughout this advocacy, The Duke of Sussex stressed the need for corporate accountability. He asked why leaders of powerful social media companies are still held to the “lowest ethical standards" — and called on shareholders to demand tangible change.
“Parenting doesn’t end with the birth of a child. Neither does founding a company," said Harry, who revealed that his smartphone lock screen is a photo of his children, five-year-old Prince Archie and three-year-old Princess Lilibet. "We have a duty and a responsibility to see our creations through.”
Harry’s remarks arrive as pressures continue to mount on tech giants like Meta, Snap and TikTok to make their online platforms safer, particularly for younger users. Many children on these platforms are exposed to content that is not age appropriate, such as violence, or misinformation. Others face unrealistic beauty standards, bullying and sexual harassment.
Companies have made some changes over the years — with Instagram, for example, announcing last week that it would be making teen accounts private by default in a handful of countries. But safety advocates have long-stressed that there’s more work to be done. Many also maintain that companies still put too much responsibility on parents when it comes to keeping children safe on social media.
Harry's contribution to this year's CGI annual meeting was part of the “What's Working” theme, in a panel that included former President Bill Clinton, Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton and World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres.
The Archewell Foundation, which Harry founded with his wife, Meghan Markle, to carry out their philanthropic work recently launched an initiative supporting parents whose children have suffered or died due to online harms. Harry highlighted the work of that initiative, called The Parents Network, in his speech Tuesday.
The foundation has also partnered with the World Health Organization and others to end violence against children, an issue he and Meghan outlined during a recent trip to Colombia. Harry on Tuesday pointed to the inaugural Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, which is set to take place in Bogotá this November. He said that this meeting could result in the first global agreement for prioritizing child safety and protection online.
His CGI address was part of a string of appearances for Harry in New York at the growing number of humanitarian and philanthropic events that run alongside the United Nations General Assembly Week.
On Monday, he appeared at an event for The HALO Trust, where he discussed how the work of the landmine clearing charity was influential on his late mother, Princess Diana, as well as at the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit, where he spoke with winners of The Diana Award.
“The HALO Trust’s work in Angola meant a great deal to my mother,” he said. “Carrying on her legacy is a responsibility that I take seriously. And I think we all know how much she would want us to finish this particular job.”
Harry's message on Tuesday was generally well-received at the conference.
Nia Faith, 22, co-founder of the Canadian nonprofit Revolutionnaire, which works to empower youth and uses social media to mobilize members, said she saw his presentation as a “call to action” on an issue that does not get enough attention.
“I was incredibly moved by Prince Harry’s speech,” she said. “At Revolutionnaire, we use digital advocacy and social media to empower youth to make a positive impact. We also recognized that social media is being used in a way that is harmful and detrimental to the mental health of young people.”
Faith hopes that Harry's work will convince companies and governments to take action to protect children while encouraging the use of platforms to drive more positive action.
Ashley Lashley, 25, whose Ashley Lashley Foundation works to address environmental challenges in her native Barbados by motivating young people to take action in their communities, said she was impressed by his remarks, even though she also worries about the digital divide in her country.
“His message really hit home that parents, teachers, and students really need to unite to educate each other about the safe usage of digital technology," she said. “I really believe that there needs to be a multi sectorial approach. That’s what we’re seeing here at CGI where different persons from different sectors — from governments, from private sectors, from philanthropy organizations — can really work together to ensure that there is peace and equity across all social media platforms.”
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Prince Harry speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Prince Harry speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Prince Harry speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
