Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson “misapplied the law” when the Bureau of Elections excluded independent presidential candidate Cornel West from the Michigan ballot, a judge ruled on Saturday.

“Victory in Michigan!” West posted to X on Saturday, along with an image of the order. “We brought thousands of voices to the table, and the court listened, rejecting the Democrats’ technical challenges. This is a win for democracy and for every person fighting for truth, justice and love. Onward!”

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Benson’s Bureau of Elections disqualified West from the 2024 presidential ballot on Aug. 16 based on technical issues dealing with the leftist candidate’s affidavit of identity. The move was spawned from a complaint filed by Mark Brewer, an activist attorney and former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, who works with the Clear Choice Action PAC to eliminate competition for Democratic Presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

Rosa Holliday, an activist with the PAC, also filed a complaint in late July alleging West’s qualifying petitions were “rife with forged signatures.”

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Robert Redford on Saturday cited MCL 168.558(1) in his ruling: “The affidavit of identity (AOI) filing requirement does not apply to a candidate nominated for the office of President of the United States or Vice President of the United States.”

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“As a result, West and (running mate Melina Abdullah, a Black Lives Matter activist) were not required to file AOIs,” Redford wrote. “The Court respectfully concludes the SOS and Director of the Bureau of Elections misapplied the law in finding otherwise. The AOIs the candidates filed cannot serve as a mechanism to exclude them from the ballot.”

West, whose campaign previously described the complaints “frivolous and unfounded,” rejoiced at Saturday’s outcome, which ordered Benson “to qualify West and Abdullah as independent candidates for the ballot, on the condition that the Board of State Canvassers does not determine they are disqualified after a review of the signatures on the qualifying petitions and West complies with” state law.

“This ruling is not just a legal victory – it is a moral victory for everyone who believes in the sanctity of the democratic process,” West said in a statement cited by The Hill. “Our campaign submitted over 26,000 signatures, significantly more than required, which the court recognized as a legitimate expression of the people’s will.”

“We are grateful for this affirmation and promise to continue championing the rights of all voters,” West said.

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While West continues to fight similar efforts to boot him from the ballot in Pennsylvania and other states, the Saturday ruling serves as the latest defeat in Democrats’ efforts to limit who appears on the presidential ballot in Michigan.

In April, Clear Choice partnered with Brewer to challenge Natural Law Party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s access just days after he was approved for the ballot. That challenge followed another failed effort to block former President Donald Trump last year.

The effort to block West came as he worked to court Democratic voters in Arab and Muslim communities who are unhappy with the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of Hamas’ war against Israel.

Benson’s office did not respond to requests for comment from The Hill.

The most recent polling shows Trump and Harris within the survey’s 3.7 percentage point margin of error, with Harris at 46%, Trump at 45%, RFK at 5%, and West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein both at 1%. That survey of 1,001 registered voters conducted Aug. 20-22 by TPP Insights was followed by Kennedy suspending his independent campaign to endorse Trump on Friday.

Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as major factors for his decision, The Associated Press reports.

“These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said.