Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein won’t be on Georgia’s presidential ballot this November after the state said the party had too few verified signatures on its petition.
The news comes a month after the Green Party submitted what it said was more than 1,600 pages of signatures by the state’s July 12 deadline. Party officials had not been sure of the number of signatures, but they estimated it had been more than 10,000.
That number was key. A federal judge earlier this year significantly lowered the number of signatures required to petition for a place on Georgia’s presidential ballot, from tens of thousands of required signatures to just 7,500.
Local election officials, however, were able to verify only 5,925 signatures on the party’s petition, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
Rick Lass, the national ballot coordinator for Stein for President, said Tuesday that he had “not seen any kind of indication why they didn’t count (the rejected signatures).”
“All I can say is we’re really disappointed,” he said. “A lot of people worked really hard for months on this petition drive.
“I’m surprised it was that few (that were approved). … Not knowing why they rejected more than 4,000 signatures, I can’t really say much yet.”
The party has five days to appeal the ruling.
"We are conferring with our attorneys right now,” said Bruce A. Dixon, co-chairman of the Georgia Green Party. “It is highly likely that we will be in court before the end of this week to litigate this matter. So it ain't over yet."
Nationally, Stein has been confirmed for the ballot in 27 states and the District of Columbia, and she is awaiting confirmation in more than a half-dozen others. An additional dozen states have pending deadlines where the party said it expects to file for ballot access.
