Presidential candidate Cornel West loses bid for Pennsylvania ballot

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Independent presidential candidate Cornel West will not appear on Pennsylvania's ballot after the battleground state's Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling, and counties started printing ballots.

"Counties can now prepare their ballots to be printed, then begin sending mail ballots to voters who have requested one as soon as they are printed," Pennsylvania's Secretary of State Al Schmidt said in a statement before certifying the ballot .

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court affirmed the lower Commonwealth Court decision in a one-page order, saying it agreed with Schmidt's office that West failed to file the required affidavits for 14 of West's 19 presidential electors by the Aug. 1 deadline.

West, 71, has been fighting to get his name on the ballot before Pennsylvania begins early voting in the next few weeks ahead of the Nov. 5 election. His candidacy was challenged by Democrats as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump battle for the swing state's 19 electoral votes.

In addition to Harris and Trump, the presidential candidates to appear on Pennsylvania's November ballot will include the Green Party's Jill Stein and the Libertarian party's Chase Oliver. Stein's and Oliver's petitions did not face challenges.

While West has not responded to Pennsylvania's court ruling, he announced Monday he was "excited to announce we're officially on the ballot in Nebraska !" On Sunday, he posted that he had "made it onto the ballot in Louisiana !"

Cornel will also appear on the ballot in Maine and North Carolina for a total of 15 states . He is an official write-in candidate in a number of other states, with Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and South Dakota having no write-in option.

Following Trump's first assassination attempt in July, West requested Secret Service protection for himself after it was extended to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last month, RFK Jr. dropped his bid for the White House and endorsed Trump.

West, who is a philosopher and theologian, chose California State University professor Melina Abdullah for his vice presidential running mate.

According to his Justice for All campaign, "Our aim is and will always be to unite in solidarity with movements of truth and justice, who seek a choice beyond empire, white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy and the confines of the corporate-dominated two-party system."