Ralph Nader will not be appearing on the Pennsylvania ballot as an Independent candidate, according to a ruling earlier this month by the three-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
The court ruled that Nader violated state law by attempting to run on Michigan's Reform party ticket and on Philadelphia's Independent ticket. Such cross-filing, the panel of judges concluded, is illegal.
This issue has taken precedence over previous controversies, including those led by Democrats alleging that Nader submitted flawed or forged signatures on nominating petitions.
Nader has appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court on the basis that it infringes on his free-speech rights.
"I think it's a foolish move on the Democrats' part," Nader Campaign Pennsylvania State Coordinator Dan Martino said, noting that the Democrat-led legal challenge seeking to keep Nader off the ballot angered many Independents.
"It just shows that their real mission is to support their corporate backers at the expense of all their candidates, including John Kerry," Martino said. "The majority of people who vote for Ralph Nader are people who wouldn't have come out to vote otherwise."
However, many other people disagree with this perspective.
"The Democratic party worked very hard to keep him off the ballot here," Penn Political Science professor Jack Nagel said. "Nobody knows for sure about these things [but] Nader is probably cutting more into Kerry's [vote] than into [President George] Bush's."
Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, students representing both parties seem unconcerned.
"If Nader was on the ballot, I think it would definitely help President Bush," Pennsylvania Students for Bush State Chairman and Wharton senior Dave Copley said. "I don't think it's going to make a whole lot of difference, though."
The Democrats and Republicans are seemingly in agreement on this point.
"I really don't think it matters," College Democrats President and College senior Rich Eisenberg said. "I think this year people will realize the real difference is between John Kerry and George W. Bush."
"John Kerry will carry Pennsylvania regardless of whether Nader is on the ballot," Eisenberg added.
Nader's appeal is based on a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which stated that California's election law -- which forbids Independents from representing any other party elsewhere -- violated the free-speech rights of the 1972 Communist presidential candidate, Gus Hall. Hall was prevented from running as an Independent in the state.
It is unclear as to whether Nader's current appeal will be successful.
"I think it's unlikely that he's going to win on First Amendment grounds," Penn assistant Law professor Kermit Roosevelt said. "Generally speaking, it's not an infringement of speech rights to set out generally applicable rules controlling ballot access."
In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore scraped by with a victory over Bush in Pennsylvania by 204,840 votes. Nader garnered 103,392 votes out of more than 4.9 million.
