Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign says it has collected over 4,000 signatures to put the independent presidential candidate on the Wisconsin ballot.
Kennedy, along with independents Cornel West, Claudia De la Cruz and Shiva Ayyadurai, submitted their signatures to qualify for the presidential ballot before Tuesday’s deadline. If approved, they will appear on the November ballot alongside Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Constitutional and Green Party candidates.
Four years ago, only the Constitution Party and two independents were on the ballot in Wisconsin, alongside Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump, when the state was decided by fewer than 21,000 votes.
According to the last Marquette University Law School poll from June, before Biden dropped out of the race, Trump was at 43%, Biden at 40%, Kennedy at 8%, West at 4%, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver at 2% each.
To be placed on the ballot, 2,000 valid signatures are required, and the Election Commission will only review a maximum of 4,000 signatures submitted by a campaign. The commission meets on Aug. 27 to review the submissions, and Kennedy staffer Karla Carpenter said in an interview with WisPolitics that the campaign is prepared for any appeals that may be filed against the petitions by Friday’s deadline.
“There are lawsuits in many states,” she noted. “We have won all of them and plan to do the same in Wisconsin if a lawsuit is filed.”
A lawsuit filed this week in a court in Albany, New York, by a Democratic-aligned PAC alleges that Kennedy provided a false address on his nomination petitions.
The Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Constitutionalists and Greens have until September 3 to confirm the names of their presidential and vice presidential candidates for the general election.
After Kennedy’s supporters dropped off their nomination papers, they took to the roof of the Monona Terrace Convention Center to celebrate. The announcement of the event incorrectly described the Electoral College as “led by Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski.” The Wisconsin Secretary of State has no official role in election administration.
De la Cruz is running under the banner of the Party for Socialism and Liberalism
Ayyadurai ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts in 2018 and 2020. A judge in New Jersey ruled this week that Ayyadurai, who was born in India to non-American parents, was ineligible to run for president there because the U.S. Constitution requires the president to be a “natural-born citizen.”
