Two Petitions Submitted for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in New Hampshire

Two petitions have been submitted in New Hampshire to place Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on the ballot.  One has his label as “We the People” and the other is “Libertarian.”

New Hampshire has no name protection for unqualified parties, and in 2008 two separate presidential candidates appeared on the ballot, both with the label “Libertarian”, Bob Barr and George Phillies.

Assuming both Kennedy petitions are valid, he will be listed on the ballot as “We the People, Libertarian.”  He would only be listed once.  His campaign is not responsible for the petition with the Libertarian label.  It seems that the Kennedy Libertarian petition was completed by individuals not formally connected with Kennedy, possibly for federal campaign finance purposes.

Chase Oliver has also completed his petition in New Hampshire.  New Hampshire is one of only five states with a party column ballot format.  The New Hampshire Secretary of State has a habit of squeezing Libertarians and independents into a single party column labelled “Libertarian and Other”, instead of giving separate columns.

Only Three Statewide Petitions Submitted This Year in Missouri

The Missouri deadline for independent candidate petitions, and petitions to qualify a new party, was July 29.  This year, only three statewide petitions were submitted:  (1) the Better Party, which has no interest in the presidential race; (2) the Green Party; the independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. petition.

The first petition has already been found valid.  The Secretary of State will soon check the validity of the other two.  The Libertarian Party is already on the ballot because of its vote totals in 2022.

This will be the first year since 1994 that the Constitution Party is not on the ballot.  It didn’t poll enough votes in either 2020 or 2022 to remain ballot-qualified, and it did not complete a petition this year.

U.S. District Court Hears Cornel West North Carolina Ballot Access Case

On July 30, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle heard the Cornel West ballot access case in North Carolina.  Ortiz v North Carolina State Board of Elections, e.d., 5:24cv-420.  The West petition for the Justice for All Party has enough valid signatures, according to the county boards.  But the State Board still wouldn’t put his party on the ballot, because they said they believed some petitioners misrepresented the contents of the petition.

The judge said he would rule quickly.  He allowed Cornel West to intervene in the case.  The case had been filed by some voters who want to vote for West.