On June 25, a New Jersey voter, Scott Salmon, sued the Secretary of State to force her to keep Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., off the November ballot.  The basis for the lawsuit, which is filed in state court, is that Kennedy is a “sore loser” because he got some write-ins in the June 4 Democratic presidential primary in New Jersey.  See this story.

The article does not mention that the New Jersey “sore loser” law has been interpreted not to apply to presidential candidates.  In 1988 David Duke ran in the state’s Democratic presidential primary and also appeared on the New Jersey general election ballot as an independent.  In 1992, Lyndon LaRouche did the same.

Kennedy withdrew from the race for the Democratic nomination on October 9, 2023, long before he had applied to be on any state’s Democratic presidential primary.  The lawsuits asserts that because some voters voted for Kennedy in this month’s presidential primary, therefore he is a “sore loser.”  Under that theory, New Jersey should have kept John Anderson off the November ballot in 1980, because he certainly also received some write-ins in the primary.  Also New Jersey should have kept Pat Buchanan off the ballot in 2000, because he had been seeking the Republican nomination during 1999 and surely received some write-ins in the 2000 Republican presidential primary.

New Jersey does not have a declaration of write-in candidacy procedure.  No one ever files to have his or her write-ins counted in New Jersey.  Some counties tally write-ins but most don’t.

The New Jersey “sore loser” law, sec. 19:13-4, says, as to presidential candidates, “the petition or petitions shall not include the names of any candidates for President or Vice-President who have been nominated at a convention of a political party as defined by this title.”  In New Jersey, only the Republican and Democratic Parties meet the definition of “party.”.  Therefore, the law, as to presidential candidates, clearly only applies to major party nominees.  It isn’t really a “sore loser” law at all; it is a ban on fusion for presidential elections.

As to candidates for non-presidential office, 19:13-4 says, “No such petition shall undertake to nominate any candidate who has accepted the nomination for the primary for such position.”

June 24 is the Illinois petition deadline for independent candidates, and for nominees of unqualified parties.  The Green, Libertarian, and Constitution Parties submitted petitions, as did independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The Illinois petition deadline had been in August until 1999, when it was moved to June.  Illinois has one of the earliest petition deadlines for general election presidential candidates of any state.  In 2000 a U.S. .District Court enjoined the deadline in a case filed by Ralph Nader, but no declarative relief was sought or granted.  So the June deadline continues to exist in the law.

On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Rose v Raffensperger, 23-1060, the case over elections for Georgia Public Service Commissioner.  The Eleventh Circuit had ruled in favor of the state, and the state law says the elections should be at-large.

Because of the litigation over this case, which began in 2020, this year’s elections for that office had been cancelled.  It is not clear if the state will now try to hold an at-large election for Public Service Commissioner this year.