As most signs are pointing to independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leaving the presidential race and endorsing former President Donald Trump, a quirk in the system can still place Kennedy’s name on Pennsylvania ballots.
How, you may be asking? If he formally announces that he is suspending his campaign, how can he appear on the ballot anyway?
You don’t have to look any further than April for your answer, as former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley remained on the Pennsylvania presidential primary ballot even after suspending her campaign more than a month earlier.
For the general election, the deadline for candidates in Pennsylvania to voluntarily withdraw their names from the November ballot passed on August 12. Kennedy did not do so.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, there are still two ways for Kennedy’s name to be stricken from the list of presidential candidates – 1) a ruling against him in the ongoing challenge to his official residence, or 2) a court petition for removal.
Commonwealth Court Judge Lori Dumas is presently considering a challenge brought forward by Alexander Reber of Dauphin County and Janneken Smucker, a professor at West Chester University, to the “nomination papers of Kennedy and Nicole Shanahan as the We The People Candidates for President and Vice President of the United States in the November 5, 2024 General Election.”
The petitioners claim that Kennedy does not officially reside at the New York State address listed on his nomination papers, which would disqualify the submitted signatures.
Attorney Tim Ford of Dilworth Paxson said Pennsylvania law requires Kennedy’s name to be stricken from the ballot because he used the New York address with an intent to deceive voters.
“This isn’t a situation with a good-faith excuse,” Ford said, noting that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court previously found that there was no intent to deceive voters in a case when a candidate was moving to a new address while circulating nominating petitions.
The only other remaining option would be for a court order to be made to strike Kennedy from the ballot. This would require Kennedy to file a petition in Commonwealth Court asking a judge to issue an order to remove his name from the ballot.
On Thursday, Kennedy filed paperwork to remove his name from official consideration in Arizona, signaling to many that his campaign would be coming to a close.
Third party candidates have a history of acting as spoilers in Pennsylvania. In 2016, Green Party Candidate Jill Stein received nearly 50,000 votes in the state while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost the state by just over 44,000 votes.
Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump may sway some potential Kennedy voters to vote for the former President.