Cornel West campaign to appeal judge's decision barring him from Pennsylvania ballot

Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Third-party presidential candidate Cornel West attorney Matthew Haverstick, who has long represented the Republican Party, said Friday that West will appeal a federal court decision that keeps his name off Pennsylvania's ballot.

Haverstick said, "We think there is time for changes to implemented to vindicate his constitutional rights in a meaningful way."

While ruling against West, U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan acknowledged the constitutional merits of West's claim.

"If this case had been brought earlier, the result, at least on the present record, may have been different ," Ranjan wrote in his opinion Thursday.

Ranjan also expressed "serious concerns" over how Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt is enforcing state election code restriction's on West's campaign.

West's legal team includes lawyers with strong Republican ties.

Ranjan said in his order barring West form the ballot that the court "isn't confident enough based on the record presented that all 67 counties will be able to implement the injunctive relief requested within the time parameters, without resulting in major errors."

In his ruling, Ranjan noted federal precedent that courts should avoid interfering in elections unless there's a compelling reason.

He said adding West to Pennsylvania's ballot at this late stage would create confusion and likely result in post-election disputes.

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling Sept. 17 keeping West off the commonwealth's ballot. 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.

The West campaign then sued in federal court.

The suit maintained that Pennsylvania's interpretation of election law on candidate affidavits required from presidential electors infringes on his constitutional rights to freedom of association and equal protection.

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