The Supreme Court Denies RFK Jr.’s Request to Withdraw from Ballots in Michigan and Wisconsin
WASHINGTON − On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plea to remove himself from the presidential election ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial states where he aims to avoid siphoning votes from former President Donald Trump on November 5.
After bowing out of the race in August, Kennedy endorsed Trump but did not meet the deadline to withdraw from the ballot in these states. He claimed that these deadlines were unconstitutional due to their inconsistency with rules for candidates from the Democratic or Republican parties.
However, lower courts dismissed this claim, stating there wasn’t enough time to amend the ballots, as voting has already started.
“The ridiculousness of this proposal is clear from the outset,” argued Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul about Kennedy’s idea of covering his name with stickers on the ballots. “Currently, it is impractical to add small stickers to the thousands of ballots that are still with clerks, and countless ballots have already been mailed to voters, with many returned.”
In Michigan, over 1.5 million absentee ballots have already been sent out. Even if there were time to print new ballots, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel informed the Supreme Court that the vote counting machines have been tailored for the current ballots and cannot be quickly reprogrammed.
Nessel also pointed out that Kennedy’s concern about not confusing voters contradicts his actions of attempting to exit the ballot in some states shortly after requesting the Supreme Court to get him on the ballot in New York.
Previously, the Supreme Court turned down that request last month.
Wisconsin and Michigan are part of the seven key states likely to influence the upcoming presidential election outcome.
Upon suspending his campaign, Kennedy declared his name would remain on the ballot, encouraging his supporters to vote for him in most areas.
However, he did express intentions to attempt to remove his name in battleground states “where my candidacy would act as a spoiler.”
