Across America, third-party campaigns, including that of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are having trouble staying on the November ballot. And when a non-Democrat gets kicked off the ballot in Michigan, the fingerprints of attorney Mark Brewer, former chair of the state Democratic party, are often found nearby.

Responding to a challenge from Brewer that the paperwork of Cornel West’s presidential campaign wasn’t in order, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson punted West from the ballot earlier this month. The Michigan Bureau of Elections said West’s affidavit of identity was not property notarized. 

The West campaign was also kicked off the North Carolina ballot earlier this year, but a U.S. District Court judge reversed that decision this month after a public relations campaign and court battle. The same two-step will be danced in Michigan, with the campaign challenging the decision in court and election integrity groups shouting in the public square for West’s inclusion.

The campaign will be carried out by the Fair Election Fund, which is not pro-West, so much as it’s pro-you being able to choose whoever you want in November. 

“The campaign will include TV ads, billboard trucks, and projections on buildings throughout Michigan with messages about how Secretary Benson is undermining the rights of thousands of voters who signed a petition to include their preferred candidate on the ballot,” the fund said in its announcement. 

The six-figure campaign is meant to blame Benson, who is thought to be a top Democratic candidate for governor in 2026, for the West disqualification.

Polls show that third-party candidates in 2024 tend to break away from the Democrats. 

As a center-left group called The Third Way explains on its website, “History tells us that third-party candidates don’t win and that a third-party candidate in 2024 would pull support from the Democratic ticket while boosting the Republican nominee.”

Removing third-party candidates, then, is done to give voters no choice but Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, in the belief that Democratic-leaning voters would be forced to pull the lever for Harris. 

In its response to Benson’s ruling, the West campaign blamed Democratic Party politics for her decision.

“This lawsuit, focused on minor procedural details such as notarization, represents a legal tactic aimed to distract from the essential policy debates,” West said. “Initiated by the DNC and the Michigan Democratic Party, its purpose is clear: to suppress the progressive voices challenging the current administration’s policies, including its support of a genocide in Gaza.”

So the Fair Election Fund will offer the same response it did in North Carolina: public pushback. 

Meanwhile the West campaign will fight Benson’s decision in court. 

“We are ready to battle it out in court to defend the voices of poor and working class people, ensuring our place on the ballot,” West said. 

Ahead of the 2022 election, a Brewer challenge also led to Benson denying former Detroit Police Chief James Craig a place on the Republican primary ballot in the governor’s race, due to an inadequate number of signatures. The reason Craig came up short owed allegedly to large-scale signature fraud by a company he hired.

While polls showed Craig making a strong showing against Whitmer, his exit left Republicans with only lesser lights in the primary.

Tudor Dixon emerged from the pack and lost by 11 points.

James David Dickson is host of the Enjoyer Podcast. Join him in conversation on X @downi75.