Ballot access laws for independent and third-party candidates are “among the worst forms of voter suppression in America today” and state officials should work together to “streamline and standardize ballot access procedures,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a Substack article a week after winning a lawsuit about the issue in Utah.
Ballot access restrictions “artificially prop up the two-party duopoly, even as 63% of American adults agree that the Republican and Democratic parties do such a poor job of representing the American people that another choice is needed,” Mr. Kennedy wrote.
Last week, Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson announced she would extend the deadline for independent presidential candidates to gain ballot access to March 5, 2024.
Mr. Kennedy filed a lawsuit against Utah officials on Dec. 4 citing an “unconstitutional early filing deadline” that prevents ballot access for independent presidential candidates.
The legal action challenged Utah’s Jan. 8 deadline requiring independent presidential candidates to collect and verify 1,000 signatures from qualified voters.
“The current deadline is the earliest deadline ever sought to be imposed on independent presidential candidates in the modern era. No federal court has ever upheld a January deadline,” Mr. Kennedy’s lawsuit argued.
The legal action will continue to advance through the courts, even with the decision to extend the deadline. In the same court filing, Ms. Henderson asked that a hearing take place the week of Jan. 15, 2024.
Kennedy Supporters
Since announcing his candidacy in April, Mr. Kennedy has drawn widespread support from conservatives, moderates, and independents.The study reported that 49 percent of voters interviewed said they will “definitely not” vote for President Biden while 48 percent gave the same answer for President Trump.
When asked about Mr. Kennedy, 6 percent said they will “definitely” vote for him and 15 percent “probably” will.
The same poll shows Mr. Kennedy leading President Biden and President Trump among voters younger than the age of 45 in those six states.
To win the election, Mr. Kennedy must maintain a vigorous campaign schedule to reach voters face to face, proponents believe.
Face-to-Face Campaign Strategy
American Values 2024, a super PAC supporting the election of Mr. Kennedy, said that it plans to spend as much as $15 million to get the candidate on the ballot in 10 states deemed important to winning the election.The political action committee will spend money to collect signatures by hand, as state law requires, in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New York, and Texas.
Tony Lyons, the super PAC’s co-director, told The Epoch Times that it’s important for Mr. Kennedy to “get in front of voters” so they can hear his message in person instead of relying on “misinformation” from mainstream media outlets who “don’t present an accurate picture of him.”
“Critics of independents and third-party candidates always claim that they split the vote and serve as a spoiler, but what we are seeing is that people are disillusioned with both major parties and they are tired of partisan politics,” Mr. Lyons said. “People are tired of being told what to do, what to think, and who to vote for by the Democrat and Republican parties, and they are open to an alternative candidate. It’s important that he’s on every ballot in every state and Washington D.C.”
Mr. Kennedy will speak at campaign stops in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Dec. 12 and Kansas City, Missouri, on Dec. 13.
He called these events “town halls” and “meet and greets” as a Democratic candidate before announcing his run as an independent on Oct. 9. They are now billed as “voter rallies” at which he delivers his independent campaign platform, answers questions, poses for selfies, and encourages attendees to sign petitions to get him on the ballot.
Varying Rules and Requirements
Legal challenges from Democrats and Republicans intent on keeping Mr. Kennedy off the ballot are possible. There are processes to challenge signatures after they’ve been submitted to election offices in multiple states.Petitioning rules are different in each state. West Virginia mandates that campaigns file paperwork in every county before starting the signature-gathering process. Some states have notarization and congressional district signature requirements
“Secretaries of state are often unfamiliar with their own rules, and they sometimes give incorrect or contradictory instructions on their website or over calls and emails. An independent campaign must go back and forth with state officials, involve their attorneys, or sue,” Mr. Kennedy pointed out in his article.
Some states have varying guidelines about the number of signees in different parts of their state.
“Whereas most democracies have multi-party systems, Democrats and Republicans have created over the last several decades a byzantine ballot access process to stop independents and third parties. Each state has different signature numbers, petitioning windows, circulator requirements, petition forms with varying fields, and other rules,” Mr. Kennedy explained.
The ballot access process “entrenches the power of the two major parties, who would rather force my independent campaign to spend millions of dollars getting on the ballot than face us in a fair contest of ideas,” he wrote.
To get on the ballots of all 50 states and Washington, Mr. Kennedy noted, his campaign must collect about 1 million valid pen-and-paper signatures through petitions across the country.
Effectively, this means closer to 1.5 million to ensure that enough are valid,” Mr. Kennedy wrote.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign is using a grassroots approach to gather petition signatures at events like the voter rallies in Lincoln and Kansas City.
Petitioning in the Modern Age
In 24 states, electors must be included on petition forms, while 27 require a vice presidential nominee. Some states have large minimum signature requirements and limited petitioning windows. In California, candidates must submit 219,403 valid signatures in 15 weeks. Texas requires 113,151 valid signatures in 11 weeks.Mr. Kennedy noted that Democrat and Republican state legislatures can abruptly change their signature-gathering rules. New York tripled its signature requirements from 15,000 to 45,000 in 2020, he explained, “throwing the Green, Libertarian, and Independence parties off the ballot.”
Mr. Kennedy said that with help from his “grassroots army” his name would appear on the ballot of all 50 states and Washington D.C. “but the fact that my campaign is exceptionally well-prepared for this challenge doesn’t make it OK.”
“A campaign should not have to devote its money, time, and energy to ballot access, but rather to speaking to voters to win their support. The current system amounts to deliberate and arbitrary suppression of the democratic process,” Mr. Kennedy wrote.
To make ballot access rules “more sensible,” Mr. Kennedy suggested that state officials should make ballot access procedures digital.
“Virtually every aspect of modern life—besides petitioning—has entered the digital age. You can buy health care, pay your taxes, manage your Veterans Affairs benefits, purchase a car, and do practically anything else online except sign petitions for independent candidates, parties, and state initiatives,” Mr. Kennedy wrote.
“There is no legitimate reason why petitioning alone should be kept in the analog world, requiring pen-and-paper signatures which then have to be validated by state employees in a ridiculous process that could easily be brought online and made much simpler.”
Fixing the “broken ballot access system” will be one of Mr. Kennedy’s initiatives if he is elected president, he said.
