Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was scheduled to hold campaign events this week in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention.
Instead, he will appear in courtrooms in two states fighting ballot access challenges backed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
First, an evidentiary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 20 in Harrisburg, Pa.
Filed by voters Alexander Reber and Janneken Smucker, and supported by the DNC, the legal action in Pennsylvania alleges that Kennedy used an inaccurate home address on his nominating petitions and did not submit enough signatures.
Reber and Smucker allege that Kennedy should be removed from the state general election ballot because he claims to live in New York when he resides in California.
The Pennsylvania hearing will take place after an Aug. 12 ruling by a New York judge who determined that Kennedy falsely claimed New York residency on his nominating petitions, a decision that removed him from the state’s general election ballot.
Kennedy appealed the ruling and will appear at the Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola, N.Y., on Aug. 21 and Aug. 22 for testimony in that case.
“Using a friend’s address for political and voting purposes, while barely stepping foot on the premises, does not equate to residency under the Election Law,” Ryba wrote.
Kennedy testified that he moved to California in 2014 so he could be with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines. The couple has always planned to return to New York, he said.
New York has been his home for 60 years, he said.
RFK Jr. moved to the state when he was 10 and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, ran for U.S. Senate, he noted.
“I have my driver’s license in New York. My car is registered in New York. My law license and law practice are in New York. I pay income taxes in New York. My fishing license and my falconry license are in New York. I vote here,” he said.
“The rule in virtually every state is that your domicile is the place where you intend to return. I’ve always intended to return here,” he added.
Earlier this month, Kennedy said his campaign had collected enough signatures to get on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
He called Ryba’s ruling “an assault on New York voters who signed in record numbers to place me on their ballot” in a statement after the decision.
On May 28, the Kennedy campaign filed nomination petitions with the New York State Board of Elections that included more than 130,000 signatures, which a campaign spokesperson noted is around three times the requirement of 45,000.
The Kennedy campaign “vets” every signature collected in every state and gathers around three times the minimum required signatures because it expects ballot access challenges, a campaign spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
Independent Campaign
In April 2023, Kennedy announced his candidacy to challenge Biden for the 2024 Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.After encountering multiple roadblocks from the DNC and claiming that the organization was “rigging the primary” to favor Biden and prevent other candidates from competing, Kennedy chose to run as an independent in October 2023.
Earlier this year, the DNC announced the creation of a team to counter third-party and independent presidential candidates.
It hired a veteran Democrat strategist to spearhead an aggressive communication plan to combat Kennedy, independent Cornel West, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
Speaking to reporters after Ryba’s ruling, Kennedy acknowledged that a loss in New York could lead to lawsuits in other states.
In 2020, President Biden narrowly won Pennsylvania, securing 50 percent of the vote (3,458,229) compared to 48.8 percent (3,377,674) for President Donald Trump.
President Trump beat former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by around 44,300 votes in 2016.
Democrats have expressed concern that Kennedy’s presence on the ballot will benefit President Trump.
Kennedy included a New York address on his nominating petitions because his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, lives in California, the filing reads.
“Kennedy listed his New York address with the intent to deceive Pennsylvania voters,” Reber and Smucker allege.
Kennedy turned in 23,680 signature lines with “numerous ineligible signatures and defects,” according to the filing, which said that the candidate was required to submit 33,034 signatures
“The bottom line is every candidate and party must play by the same set of rules,” Clear Choice Action founder Pete Kavanaugh said in a statement.
Outside of New York and Pennsylvania, Clear Choice Action is supporting challenges to Kennedy’s nominating petitions in Illinois and Texas.
The PAC has said Kennedy has listed the same New York address on nominating petitions in 17 other states.
In Illinois, Clear Choice filed objections with the Illinois State Board of Elections challenging 66,487 of the 85,509 signatures submitted by the Kennedy campaign.
Some of the signatures were ineligible, and others were incorrectly filled out or incomplete because of “likely fraud and forgery,” the complaint alleges.
The Illinois State Board of Elections is scheduled to review the matter on Aug. 23.
In a statement, the Kennedy campaign said that state Democrat parties and Clear Choice Action have challenged the candidate in 15 states.
Kennedy has prevailed in eight states, and the only ruling against the candidate was Ryba’s decision in New York, the campaign said.
The remaining challenges have yet to be decided.
Earlier this month, the Democratic Party in Maine withdrew its challenge to Kennedy using his New York address on petitions in the state, “acknowledging it was the proper address to use,” Paul Rossi, senior counsel for the Kennedy campaign, said in a statement.
“We look forward to resolving Mr. Kennedy’s proper use of 84 Croton Lake Road as his address in a court willing to consider all legal arguments,” Rossi added.
