Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was denied by the Supreme Court earlier Friday to keep his name on New York’s ballot, has successfully taken his name off the ballot in four battleground states.
Kennedy, who ended his campaign last month and endorsed Republican Donald Trump, has removed his name from Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada, Politico reported Friday.
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ruled earlier Friday that Kennedy’s name would remain on the ballot there in November. Michigan’s secretary of state said it was too late for Kennedy to withdraw his name and the state Supreme Court upheld the decision after it was reversed on appeal. Kennedy’s name will not be on Pennsylvania’s ballot.
In an emergency appeal this week, Kennedy asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate his name in New York, reportedly arguing his supporters "have a constitutional right to have Kennedy placed on the ballot – and to vote for him, whether he is campaigning for their vote or not." Lower courts in New York ruled to keep Kennedy off the ballot because his nominating petition listed an invalid address.
North Carolina had begun printing ballots when Kennedy dropped out of the race. He sued and ultimately won his case to remove his name after an appeal, but the result forced the state to bear the cost of reprinting ballots and delayed their distribution to absentee and overseas military voters, according to Politico.
"This decision imposes a tremendous hardship on our county boards, at an extremely busy time," Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in a statement, Politico reported. "But our election officials are professionals, and I have no doubt we will rise to the challenge."
For an independent or third-party candidate to remove their name from any state ballot appears to be unprecedented.
"This has never happened before," Richard Winger, a ballot access expert who runs the Ballot Access News website, told Politico. "He’s taken his name off some states that are not swing states. It’s very mysterious. I don’t know why."
In battleground states, "where my presence would be a spoiler, I'm going to remove my name, and I've already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me," Kennedy said, according to CBS News, adding his campaign's polling consistently showed he would "likely hand the election over to the Democrats" if he was on the ballot in battleground states. Kennedy later said his supporters in all states should vote for Trump.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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