Third-party candidate Cornel West loses bid to get on Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot

Follow live: Updates from AP’s coverage of the presidential election. HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge has turned down Cornel West’s request to be included on the presidential ballot in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, expressing sympathy for his claim but saying it’s too close to Election Day to make changes. U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan said in an order issued late Thursday that he has “serious concerns” about how Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt is applying restrictions in state election code to West. “We’d be content if Dr. West got on some ballots, or even if there was a notification posted at polling places that he was on the ballot.” Matt Heckel, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said in an email that Ranjan reached the right outcome but that Schmidt “respectfully” disagrees with the judge’s opinion regarding his agency’s enforcement of the election code. Putting West on the ballot at this point, the judge ruled, “would unquestionably cause voter confusion, as well as likely post-election litigation about how to count votes cast by any newly printed mail-in ballots.” West, his running mate in the Justice for All Party and three voters sued Schmidt and the Department of State in federal court in Pittsburgh on Sept. 25, arguing the department’s interpretation of election law violates their constitutional rights to freedom of association and equal protection.