NEW YORK, ALBANY— This week, a judge in New York threw out Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plea to have his name put on the state ballot, which hurt his independent presidential campaign. This decision could cause problems for the candidate as he faces challenges in other places.
Justice Christina Ryba made a decision this week that Kennedy’s home address on his nomination papers was a “sham” that he used to stay registered to vote and advance his political career. On Wednesday, Kennedy’s lawyers filed an appeal to that decision. The judge agreed with the critics, who said Kennedy’s real home was the Los Angeles home he shares with his wife, Cheryl Hines, co-star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
In more than six states, Democrats and their friends have fought Kennedy’s petitions. New York is just one of them. Some of the challenges say that he gave a fake New York address that was already in court in that state or that there were issues with the petition signatures.
Challengers in Pennsylvania say that Kennedy’s paperwork gives the wrong address in New York and that he and his running mate showed “at best, a fundamental disregard” for state law and the way signatures are collected. A lawyer for Kennedy said that the challenge made false claims. In Harrisburg on Tuesday, there will be a meeting with evidence.
Kennedy’s team says it has enough signatures to be on the ballot in all 50 states, and it is already on the ballot in 17 of them.
His running for office has caused worry among Democrats and Republicans, who fear that he could steal votes from their own candidates.
National Democrats have worked hard to hurt his campaign, while former President Donald Trump, who is running as the Republican nominee, has gone back and forth between calling Kennedy a liberal and trying to get his support or the support of some of his followers.
Here is a look at what is going on in New York, what it might mean, and some other problems Kennedy is having getting to the polls.
What took place in New York? What will happen next?
On Monday, the judge made the decision after a short trial in state court about whether Kennedy lied on his state nominating papers about having a home in New York.
The candidate gave an address in the Katonah neighborhood as his home, where he said he rents a room from a friend. Kennedy said he went to California ten years ago to be with his wife and that he had always planned to go back to New York, where he is registered to vote.
A case bought by several voters and backed by the Democrat-aligned group Clear Choice Action said Kennedy’s real home is in Los Angeles.
A few days after the nonjury trial was over, Ryba said that “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.”
When he announced the appeal on Wednesday, the environmental lawyer who comes from a famous political family said that he didn’t recognize the Democratic Party as it is now.
In a statement, he said, “The party of my father and uncle’s time was dedicated to enhancing voters’ rights and knew that competition at the polls is an important part of American Democracy.”
The lawyers for Kennedy also said they would ask for injunctive action in New York City federal court. According to his campaign, the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says that any adult who meets the requirements can run for president. This security applies even to people who need to work in a different state than where they are registered but plan to return.
If the New York ruling is upheld, will it change how cases are handled in other states?
Experts say that officials in other states could pay attention to what the courts in New York decide about Kennedy’s residency.
Keith Gaddie, a political science professor at Texas Christian University, said that the U.S. Constitution gives each state a lot of power to oversee elections. He said that many states have rules that make it very hard for independent candidates to get on the ballot because they have to collect a lot of signatures or meet other strict requirements.
“The question is whether it could be used to keep RFK Jr. from running for office in other states with similar rules to New York,” Gaddie said. “It might not happen everywhere, but somewhere it will.”
Kennedy told reporters last week that if he lost in New York, it could lead to cases in other states. This was after court in Albany.
A group called Clear Choice Action said that Kennedy’s New York address was on nomination papers in 17 other states as well.
Clear Choice Action founder Pete Kavanaugh said in a prepared statement, “It’s up to each state to decide if Mr. Kennedy broke their laws and statutes by giving a false address and misleading voters.”
Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News and an activist who supports minor parties’ access to the ballot, said that while Kennedy’s home has already been the subject of some state-level challenges to his candidacy, he didn’t think that the New York ruling would lead to any new ones.
He told them, “I don’t think they can just change the reason they are objecting at will.” “I think it’s too late for most people.”
He also didn’t think that the address of a candidate was “such a big deal” in other states’ rules.
Where else has Kennedy been fought?
Winger said Kennedy’s candidacy has been contested in Hawaii, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Washington, among other states. These challenges were based on a range of reasons, such as issues with his address and the signatures he needed to get on the ticket.
A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee said that the party is supporting challenges to Kennedy’s petitions in Nevada, Delaware, and Georgia. The group is supporting a different case in New York.
On Monday, challenges to Kennedy’s ballot papers and those of other third-party and independent candidates will start to be heard in Georgia.
Democrats say that Kennedy’s petitions are not legal because they were filled out correctly or not at all, among other things. The Kennedy team doesn’t agree with those claims.
Aside from New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Texas are also challenging Kennedy’s requests with the help of Clear Choice Action. In Texas, an attorney for the group told state officials that Kennedy’s listed address in New York doesn’t follow Texas election rules and that he shouldn’t be allowed to run for office.
