In a bid to provide Georgia's electorate with more than just the mainstream choices, third-party candidates are ramping up their efforts to give voters alternatives to the traditional Democratic and Republican nominees in the upcoming presidential election, Jill Stein of the Green Party and Karina Garcia of the Party of Socialism and Liberation made clear as they campaigned in metro Atlanta, WABE reports.
Both Stein and Garcia made their intentions evident during a recent stop at Masjid Al-Furqan West Cobb Islamic Center, sharing their congruent visions which include ending the war in Gaza, advocating a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and calling for a radical decrease in military spending to bankroll social initiatives such as universal healthcare and free public higher education, Stein categorically stated, "We will be the one campaign on track right now to be on the ballot for every voter across the country so that we can stand up to empire," according to WABE.
The Green Party seems poised to be on ballots nationwide, whereas Garcia confirmed that the PSL has gathered the necessary 7,500 signatures from registered Georgia voters and plans to be present on the ballot in at least 24 states, even doubling their collected signatures as a safeguard against current tough regulations, as she informed during the panel discussion. However, their fight to bring alternative voices to the ballot might face new challenges, as Georgia's legislature passed an omnibus election bill, now awaiting Governor Brian Kemp's signature, that would modify the criteria for third-party inclusion in state ballots if they qualify in 20 other states, a development that prompted Stein to express optimism, saying, "We're already on in a sufficient number of states," indicating a potential ease of access to the Georgia ballot, WABE further detailed.
Despite the third-party candidates' collective momentum, recent polls such as the Real Clear Politics average place Stein at around 1% of the vote in Georgia, with her counterparts like left-wing scholar Cornel West at 1.8%, and the unrelated Kennedy scion Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leading the third-party pack with 6.3% Trump and Biden lead with 43.8% and 37.5% respectively, showing a majority of voters still favor the conventional party candidates, yet these third-party contenders may impact the tightrope balance of electoral votes in contentious states such as Georgia, where Biden previously clinched victory by the slimmest of margins, approximately 11,000 votes over Trump in 2020.
While established parties cast a wary eye on third-party candidacies with kennedy viewed particularly as a potential spoiler by the Democrats due to his capability to draw votes that might otherwise lean towards Biden, Trump has conceded that Kennedy "might hurt Biden a little bit more," but insists the impact of these candidates could hit both sides of the aisle; nonetheless, according to an NBC poll, the inclusion of third-party names does indeed dent Trump's and Biden's leads, dropping them to 37% and 39% respectively when pitted against the full slate of candidates, as reported by WABE.
