WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of lawyers with deep ties to the Republican Party scrambled over the weekend to rescue an effort to get independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the Arizona ballot, offering one of the clearest examples yet of the GOP’s extensive involvement in furthering the left-wing academic’s long-shot bid.

An Arizona woman says her name and and signature were forged on state filings that list her as an elector for Cornel West, an independent presidential candidate.

The Michigan Bureau of Elections on Friday disqualified independent presidential candidate Cornel West, the civil rights activist and philosopher, along with his running mate from appearing on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot over a technical violation of state law.

West’s ballot access was denied over notary issues, according to a letter from the state’s director of elections. He also faced a separate lawsuit filed by a local activist who alleged that his petition didn’t have enough qualifying signatures.

The state Bureau of Elections on Friday disqualified independent presidential candidate Cornel West from the Nov. 5 general election ballot over a technical violation of state law. West was disqualified for failing to have his candidate affidavit properly notarized,

West, a longtime liberal activist, academic and author, had turned in petitions in hopes of appearing on the ballot in Michigan.

Canvassers for a Republican consulting firm were among those who turned in petitions to get liberal academic Cornel West on the ballot in Wisconsin.

Independent campaigns must gather 42,303 signatures from registered Arizona voters to get on the statewide presidential ballot. If the West and Kennedy signatures are approved, they will join Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on the Arizona ballot.

A federal judge has ruled that independent presidential candidate Cornel West must be on North Carolina's ballot for the November election, ruling that the state's logic to keep West off the ballot was flawed.

Representatives of former Harvard University professor Cornel West’s third-party bid for president told the secretary of state that the campaign’s decentralized nature likely contributed to petitioners allegedly exceeding the maximum number of petition signatures set in state law and people saying they were misled.

Following a complaint to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers at the end of July, a Bay City community activist has filed a lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to block independent presidential candidate Cornel West from appearing on the November ballot.

A federal judge has ordered the state Board of Elections to put presidential candidate Cornel West on the November ballot. In an order issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle wrote that the state Board of Elections’ decision last month to deny certification of West’s Justice for All party infringed on voters’ constitutional rights.