Wisconsin Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Remove Green Party’s Jill Stein From Ballot

Jill Stein in New York City in a file photograph. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Aug. 26 rejected a Democrat’s challenge to third-party presidential candidate Jill Stein appearing on the ballot in November.

“We determine that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief he seeks,” justices said in an unsigned order rejecting a petition from David Strange, a Democratic National Committee (DNC) member.

Strange said in a petition that the Wisconsin Elections Commission incorrectly decided to let Stein, the Green Party’s candidate, appear on the ballot.

Wisconsin law states that state officers, state senators, and state candidates of a certain party must meet at the state capitol on a certain date to choose electors for the presidential candidate they’re seeking to back.

The Wisconsin Green Party has no individuals that meet the requirements for those three categories, meaning that the party “cannot as a matter of law field a candidate for president,” lawyers for Strange argued in the petition, which asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to remove Stein as an option for voters.

The commission said it did not take a position on the petition, while the Wisconsin Green Party said that Democrats missed another part of the law that indicates the choosing of electors is separate from whether candidates can be on the ballot.

“Nowhere in [the law] does the legislature say that failure of the political leaders to hold a convention would be fatal to a party’s presidential candidate’s candidacy,” attorneys for the party said.

They noted that the same circumstances unfolded in 2016, with no Wisconsin Green Party (WGP) meeting at the capitol, but that the commission still approved Stein appearing on the ballot.

“If the DNC was so concerned that there was a violation of the Wisconsin Election code, they had 8 years to bring this lawsuit. They should not be rewarded by bringing this lawsuit at the final hour,” the attorneys said.

Democrats have filed lawsuits in multiple states aimed at removing third-party candidates like Stein and Cornel West from ballots as they attempt to beat former President Donald Trump for the second time.

West was denied a spot on the Pennsylvania ballot in another ruling this week, with a judge finding that West did not have the required affidavits for some of his electors.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who originally launched his 2024 bid as a Democrat before switching to independent, was also fighting to stay on the ballot after facing lawsuits from Democrats. He eventually bowed out of the race on Aug. 23 and endorsed Trump.

Kennedy said in a speech announcing the move that the DNC should not have been filing the legal actions.

“Each time that our volunteers turned in those towering boxes of signatures needed to get on the ballot, the DNC dragged us into court,” he said.

Stein received about 31,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2016, which Trump won by 22,748 votes over the Democratic Party’s then-candidate Hillary Clinton.

President Joe Biden won Wisconsin over Trump by 20,682 votes.

Stein on social media called the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s rejection of the Democrat petition a “big win against the anti-Democratic Party’s war on democracy and voter choice!”

She added, “Wisconsin voters still have an anti-genocide, pro-worker, climate action choice this year!”

In a statement to news outlets, DNC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision was disappointing.

“The Wisconsin Green Party’s violation of the law is crystal clear,” Watson said. “WGP did not meet either of Wisconsin’s two simple requirements to nominate candidates, so it should not be on the ballot in November.”