Chris Churchill, who has been a 3-times per week columnist at the Albany Times-Union since 2012, has this column about the Democratic Party’s efforts to keep Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., off the New York ballot.  The Albany Times-Union is the daily newspaper for New York’s capital city, and is the location of the state court that is weighing the challenge.

The column may be behind a pay wall,, but it says, “The RFK Jr. lawsuit is really about disenfranchising voters…The Democratic-aligned group doesn’t really care where he lives.  It just wants to rob New Yorkers of choice.”  It also points out that according to the most recent poll for the presidential election in New York state, 7% of voters want to vote for Kennedy.

On August 9, the California Secretary of State released a new registration tally.  See it here.  This one is especially interesting because it shows the results of the registration drives that have been conducted over the last six months.  When parties try to qualify for the California ballot, they do so by persuading 73,168 individuals to fill out a registration card, joining that party.

No Labels has 40,335 registrants, more than any other unqualified party.  At the last tally, February 20, it had 42,039.  It is not surprising that it declined, because on April 4, it announced that it would not run a presidential candidate, and stopped its paid registration drive.

The Common Sense Party has 20,132, down from the February tally when it had 22,029.  It no longer has a paid registration drive either.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s We the People Party has 13,523.  This is its first tally.  Its registration drive had not begun yet when the last tally was done.  The purpose of the We the People Party was to put Kennedy on the ballot, but that became unnecessary on April 29, when the American Independent Party nominated Kennedy.

The Forward Party has 287 registrants.  This is its first tally also.  It had been working with the Common Sense Party, but for some reason decided to do its own drive.

The Justice for All Party has 1,516 registrants.  This is Cornel West’s party.  He will not be on the ballot in California.

If all the voters in the No Labels, Common Sense, We the People, and Forward Parties, would register into the same party, it would have 74,277 registrants, enough to qualify.

As to the qualified parties and their percentages:  Democratic 46.19%; Republican 24.73%; American Independent 3.83%; Libertarian 1.07%; Peace & Freedom .64; Green .47%.

The February 2024 percentages were:  Democratic 46.59%; Republican 24.41%; American Independent 3.78%; Libertarian 1.09%; Peace & Freedom .63%; Green .46%.

Here are the objections to the Pennsylvania petition for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

One of the objections is that Kennedy lives in California, not New York, and therefore if he carried California, the electors could not vote for both him and his vice-presidential running mate, who does live in California.  This is utterly frivolous.  In 2000, the Republican nominees for president and vice-president were both registered in Texas, but vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney simply re-registered to vote in Wyoming (he had homes in both states).

A lawsuit was filed to keep the Texas Republican electors from voting for both Bush and Cheney, but it lost.  See Jones v Bush, 122 F.Supp.2d 713 (n.d. Tx.).  The residency requirement only applies on the day the presidential electors vote, which is in December of the election year.  If Kennedy miraculously carried California in November, there would be time for either Kennedy or Nicole Shanahan to move to another state.  Furthermore the question of Kennedy’s domicile state is contested and one cannot assume he is domiciled in California.

The objectors claim that Kennedy needed 33,042 valid signatures, not 5,000.  The Pennsylvania requirement in the statute does say 33,042 signatures are needed, but ever since 2016 the state has been accepting 5,000 signatures for all statewide office, due to a lawsuit.  It is true the 2016 lawsuit relief was confined to the Libertarian, Green, and Constitution Parties, but it would be a gross violation of Equal Protection if others were not also able to qualify with 5,000 signatures, and the state elections office has long declared that the 5,000-signature requirement applies to any group or candidate.

No one challenged either the Libertarian petition, nor the Green petition.  Thanks to Richard Schwarz for the link.