WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court has declined to reinstate the Green Party and its presidential candidate Jill Stein on Nevada’s ballot for the upcoming November 5 election. The decision follows a Nevada Supreme Court ruling that disqualified the party due to the use of an incorrect form while collecting voter signatures.
The Green Party argued that the ruling violated the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees of equal protection and due process. However, the Supreme Court refused to intervene, leaving the state court’s decision intact. Democrats had pushed for the Green Party’s disqualification, fearing Stein could siphon votes from their candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, in this key battleground state.
Nevada is among a handful of states expected to play a decisive role in the election, where Harris faces Republican Donald Trump. The Nevada Democratic Party had challenged the Green Party’s ballot access, citing invalid signatures collected with the wrong form. While a lower court had ruled in favor of the Green Party, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed that decision earlier this month.
Jill Stein criticized the Democratic Party for undermining voter choice, accusing them of attempting to limit competition. Elections analyst J. Miles Coleman noted that Stein’s presence on the ballot would have forced Democrats to work harder to turn out voters, and that removing third-party candidates simplifies Harris’s path to consolidating the anti-Trump vote.