In May, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., submitted 245,000 signatures to be on the Texas ballot as an independent. On July 22 the Texas Democratic Party asserted that 70% of his signatures are invalid. The requirement is 113,151 signatures. The Texas Democratic Party statement did not say how they know that only 30% are valid. See this story.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has filed legal arguments with the Illinois State Officers Electoral Board, hoping to stop the petition challenge. He argues that the objectors failed to serve the Kennedy candidates for presidential elector, and that this is a fatal error. Duffy v Kennedy Electoral Board, 24-SOEB-GE 508. Thanks to Sam Cahnman for this news.
Meantime, the preliminary process for a petition challenge has been completed, with representatives of the Kennedy campaign and the objectors having hashed out their positions on each one of the disputed signatures.
On July 22, two state affiliates of the Natural Law Party announced that they have nominated Cornel West for president. The two states are Florida and Mississippi. Because the Natural Law Party is recognized by the Federal Election Commission as a national committee, the party in Florida has the ability to nominate for president without the need for a petition.
In Michigan, the third state in which the Natural Law Party is on the ballot, the Natural Law nominee is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The 2024 Democratic national convention dates are August 19-22. There are five states that require qualified parties to certify the names of their presidential nominees earlier than September 1: California August 22; Montana August 21; Oklahoma August 22; Virginia August 23; Washington August 20.
If the Democratic Party decides to use the convention itself to choose a presidential nominee, and that process takes more than a day, there could be problems with some of the states listed above, especially Washington. In the past the Washington Secretary of State has accepted provision certification, but that might not work if there is no provisional certification. Provisional certification only works if it is possible to predict who the nominee will be.
In my opinion, the Washington state deadline is unconstitutional. Constitutional challenges to early deadlines for candidates to get on ballots are adjudicated under the principles of Anderson v Celebrezze. Lower courts must balance the harm done to voting rights by the early deadline, versus the harm done to election administration if the deadline is set aside. It seems obvious that there is no genuine state interest in deadlines as early as Washington’s. States are not required to mail their overseas absentee ballots until September 21.
Michigan requires the certification the day after the later of the party’s state or national conventions. The Michigan Democratic Party is free to have a special state convention at a late date.
On Sunday, July 21, President Joe Biden said he will not run for re-election. This development shows the wisdom of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1983 when it issued its decision in Anderson v Celebrezze. The Court struck down early petition deadlines for independent presidential candidates, and based its decision on history. The decision says unexpected events do happen sometimes, and the voters must be given a chance to react, with support for new candidates.
