MADISON, Wis . (AP) — An employee of the Democratic National Committee filed a complaint Wednesday seeking to remove the Green Party's presidential candidate from the ballot in Wisconsin, arguing that the party is ineligible.
It's the latest move by the DNC to block third-party candidates from the ballot. Democrats are also seeking to stop independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in several states.
The Green Party's appearance on the presidential ballot could make a difference in swing state Wisconsin, where four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes. Jill Stein is expected to officially become the Green Party’s presidential nominee at its national convention, which begins Thursday.
The Associated Press left email messages with the Green Party and Stein's campaign Wednesday afternoon.
The last time Stein was on the ballot in Wisconsin for the Green Party was in 2016, when she got just over 31,000 votes — more than Donald Trump's winning margin that year of just under 23,000 votes. Some Democrats blamed Stein for helping Trump win the state and the presidency.
The bipartisan elections commission in February unanimously approved ballot access for the Green Party’s presidential nominee this year because the party won more than 1% of the vote in a statewide race in 2022. Green Party candidate Sharyl McFarland got nearly 1.6% of the vote in a four-way race for secretary of state, coming in last.
But the complaint filed with the commission by a DNC employee alleges that the Green Party can't nominate presidential electors in Wisconsin, and without them they are forbidden from having a presidential candidate on the ballot.
State law requires that those who nominate electors in October be state officers, which includes members of the Legislature, judges and others. They could also be candidates for the Legislature.
The Green Party does not have anyone who qualifies to be a nominator, and therefore can't legally name a slate of presidential electors as required by law, the complaint alleges.
Because the Green Party could have mounted write-in campaigns for legislative candidates in Tuesday's primary, but did not, the complaint could not have been brought any sooner than Wednesday, the filing alleges.
“We take the nomination process for President and Vice President very seriously and believe every candidate should follow the rules," Adrienne Watson, senior adviser to the DNC, said in a statement. "Because the Wisconsin Green Party hasn’t fielded candidates for legislative or statewide office and doesn’t have any current incumbent legislative or statewide office holders, it cannot nominate candidates and should not be on the ballot in November.”
This is not the first time the Green Party's ballot status has been challenged.
In 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court kept the Green Party presidential candidate off the ballot after it upheld a deadlocked Wisconsin Elections Commission, which couldn't agree on whether the candidates filed proper paperwork.
This year, in addition to the Republican, Democratic and Green parties, the Constitution and Libertarian parties also have ballot access. The commission is meeting on Aug. 27 to determine whether four independent candidates for president, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, met the requirements to appear on the ballot. The DNC employee asks that the commission also consider its complaint at that meeting as well.
There are signs in some swing states, including Wisconsin, that those behind third-party candidates are trying to affect the outcome of the presidential race by using deceptive means — and in most cases in ways that would benefit Trump. Their aim is to to offer left-leaning, third-party alternatives who could siphon off a few thousand protest votes.
The latest Marquette University Law School poll conducted July 24 through Aug. 1 showed the presidential contest in Wisconsin between Democrat Kamala Harris and Trump to be about even among likely voters. Stein barely registered, with about 1% support, while Kennedy had 6%.
The complaint was filed by David Strange, deputy operations director in Wisconsin for the DNC.
This story has been updated to correct that Strange is an employee of the DNC, not a member.
FILE - Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein waits to speak at a board of elections meeting at City Hall in Philadelphia, Oct. 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — United States President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are meeting Friday amid an intensified push by Ukraine to loosen restrictions on using weapons provided by the U.S. and Britain to strike Russia.
The talks come amid signs that the White House could be moving toward a shift in its policy, and as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned that Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons would put NATO at war with Moscow.
Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia during this week’s visit to Kyiv by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Blinken said he had “no doubt” that Biden and Starmer would discuss the matter during their visit, noting the U.S. has adapted and “will adjust as necessary” as Russia’s battlefield strategy has changed.
The language is similar to what Blinken said in May, shortly before the U.S. allowed Ukraine to use American-provided weapons just inside Russian territory. The distance has been largely limited to cross-border targets deemed a direct threat out of concerns about further escalating the conflict.
While the issue is expected to be at the top of the leaders’ agenda, it appeared unlikely that Biden and Starmer would announce any policy changes during this week’s visit, according to two U.S. officials familiar with planning for the leaders' talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the private deliberations.
In addition to Blinken, Biden also has hinted a change could be afoot. In an exchange with reporters earlier this week about whether he was ready to ease weapons restrictions on Ukraine, he responded, “We’re working that out now.”
Putin warned Thursday that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia. … If this is so, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us.”
His remarks were in line with the narrative the Kremlin has actively promoted since early in the Ukraine war, accusing NATO countries of de-facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.
Earlier in the year, Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory, saying it “would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way.”
Starmer, in response to the Russian leader's Thursday comments, said on his way to the U.S. that Britain does not seek any conflict with Russia.
“Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away,” Starmer told reporters. “Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense — we’re providing training capability, as you know."
“But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” Starmer said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pressed U.S. and allied military leaders to go much further. He argues that the U.S. must allow Ukraine to target Russian air bases and launch sites far from the border as Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities ahead of the coming winter.
Zelenskyy also wants more long-range weaponry from the United States, including the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, for strikes in Russia.
ATACMS wouldn’t be the answer to the main threat Ukraine faces from long-range Russian glide bombs, which are being fired from more than 300 kilometers (185 miles) away, beyond the ATACMS' reach, said Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz, Pentagon spokesperson.
American officials also don’t believe they have enough of the weapon systems available to provide Ukraine with the number to make a substantive difference to conditions on the ground, one of the U.S. officials said.
During a meeting of allied defense ministers last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe providing Ukraine with long-range weapon systems would be a game-changer in the grueling war. He noted that Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own internally produced systems, including drones.
“I don’t believe one capability is going to be decisive, and I stand by that comment,” Austin said.
“As of right now, the policy has not changed," Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said Thursday.
Starmer said he was visiting Washington for “strategic meetings to discuss Ukraine and to discuss the Middle East.” It’s the prime minister’s second meeting with Biden since his center-left government was elected in July.
It comes after Britain last week diverged from the U.S. by suspending some arms exports to Israel because of the risk they could be used to break international law. Both countries have downplayed their differences over the issue.
Biden and Starmer’s meeting also comes ahead of this month’s annual meeting of global leaders at the United Nations General Assembly. The Oval Office meeting was scheduled in part to help the two leaders compare notes on the war in Ukraine, languishing efforts to get a cease-fire deal in Gaza and other issues ahead of the U.N. meeting.
The White House also has sought in recent days to put a greater emphasis on the nexus between the war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East sparked after Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza launched attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
The Biden administration said this week that Iran recently delivered short-range ballistic weapons to Russia to use against Ukraine, a transfer that White House officials worry will allow Russia to use more of its arsenal for targets far beyond the Ukrainian front line while employing Iranian warheads for closer-range targets.
In turn, the U.S. administration says Russia has been tightening its relationship with Iran, including by providing it with nuclear and space technology.
“This is obviously deeply concerning,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said of the missile transfer. “And it certainly speaks to the manner in which this partnership threatens European security and how it illustrates Iran’s destabilizing influence now reaches well beyond the Middle East.”
AP reporters Tara Copp in Washington, Jill Lawless in London, Matthew Lee in Warsaw, Poland, and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.
President Joe Biden speaks during the Violence Against Women Act 30th anniversary celebration on the South Lawn of the White House, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, talks to the media on board his plane as he flies to Washington DC., Thursday Sept. 12, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool via AP)
