Robert F. Kennedy won’t be off the ballots in the small states of Michigan and Wisconsin, election officials confirmed Tuesday, just days after he did. completed and endorsed his independent presidential campaign former President Donald Trump.
Kennedy is on the ballot in Michigan Natural Law Partynominated him at this year’s convention. A spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State’s office, Cheri Hardmon, confirmed that “minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot for the November election.”
Election Commission in Wisconsin met on Tuesday to approve access to the ballot for presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Although Kennedy requested to withdraw his candidacy as an independent candidate, the commission voted to deny the request, according to an archived video of the proceedings. Published by WisconsinEyea non-profit public relations network.
“The law literally says“Any person who submits the nomination ballots and has the right to participate in the election ballot cannot refuse to be a candidate. That person’s name will be on the ballot unless they’re dead,” commission chairwoman Ann Jacobs said, speaking with another commissioner who fought the idea of keeping someone on the ballot who didn’t want to act.
“You give me the impression: ‘I don’t think this should be a law.’ The law is absolutely clear in this case,” he added. “I don’t agree with you—it’s strange, but I don’t see that we have any reasoning here.”
It’s possible that Kennedy could also have trouble getting himself off the ballot in other traditional battleground states. This was reported by NPR on Tuesday.
In his exit speech on Friday in which he endorsed Trump, Kennedy said he would try to get his name off the ballot in states where he could play the role of a spoiler.
“In about 10 battlegrounds where my participation would be a spoiler, I will remove my name, and I have already begun that process and I urge voters not to vote for me,” Kennedy said.
“Our polling has consistently shown that by staying on the ballot in battleground states, I would likely hand the election to Democrats with whom I disagree on the most pressing issues,” he said.
But Kennedy added that he would not remove his name from ballots in “red” or “blue” states, hoping to give his supporters a chance to vote for him without influencing the outcome of the election. For example, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams announced on Monday He said Kennedy would be on the ballot in a solidly Republican state.
In the states where Kennedy remains on the ballot, it is unlikely that he will pick up a significant number of votes because he is no longer actively campaigning and is supporting another candidate. But his decision to drop out was seen as a marginal boost for Trump, as it has been in the past more involved than voters Who will Trump choose against Vice President Kamala Harris?
Catherine Koretsky contributed.