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.
