The Free & Equal Elections Foundation has confirmed the participants for its presidential debate scheduled to take place in New York City at the end of February. The organization has expanded the stage to include seven candidates, up from the initial six announced earlier in the month.
On Saturday, Free & Equal announced on X that it invited seven candidates to participate in the debate. According to the organization, the initially announced roster, including Party for Socialism and Liberation nominee Claudia de la Cruz, independent candidate Dr. Cornel West, Green Party candidates Jill Stein and Jasmine Sherman, and Libertarian Party candidates Chase Oliver and Lars Mapstead, has been retained. Additionally, it announced the inclusion of independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., bringing the total field to five party candidates and two independent candidates.
Following the original announcement naming participants, Free & Equal discovered through an internal audit of the results that there were over 83,000 “illegal votes,” primarily impacting Claudia De la Cruz, Jasmine Sherman, Chase Oliver, and American Solidarity Party nominee Peter Sonski. The organization stated that it identified the discrepancies by comparing organic voting patterns to instances where votes were cast multiple times per second. In response, Free & Equal turned to its supporters to determine the next steps, making its blockchain audit logs and candidate information available for public view and hearing supporter suggestions.
Readers can learn more about the audit and its results in an earlier article.
While Free & Equal has yet to share which suggestions were officially adopted, the inclusion of Kennedy, who initially placed eighth behind American Solidarity Party nominee Peter Sonski, suggests that all irregular votes identified in the audit were disregarded for the purpose of determining debate participants. Independent Political Report initially reached out to Free & Equal to determine if other candidates were also affected following news of the audit but has yet to receive confirmation as of this article.
More information about the Free & Equal Elections Presidential Debate, including details on how to attend and how the public can submit debate questions, can be found on the Free & Equal Foundation website.
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