The candidate’s presence on the ballot in the two states President Biden won by less than half a percentage point in 2020, could impact the general election.
The same week that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign announced it had collected enough signatures to appear on Hawaii’s general election ballot, a super PAC aligned with the independent presidential candidate said it had met signature requirements for Mr. Kennedy to appear on the ballot in Arizona and Georgia.
American Values 2024, a super PAC working to get Mr. Kennedy elected, reported last December that it would spend around $15 million to help him get on the ballot in multiple states deemed important to winning the presidential election.
“The grassroots energy and momentum give us more confidence than ever in our ability to knock out the remaining states on our list of states quickly. The remaining states are Michigan, South Carolina, Maryland, California, West Virginia, Indiana, Texas, Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts,” said Tony Lyons, co-founder of American Values 2024.
Mr. Kennedy’s presence on the general election ballot in Arizona and Georgia could impact a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. President Biden won both states by less than half a percentage point in 2020 amid questions about election integrity issues.
Mr. Kennedy, who has led all presidential candidates in favorability ratings in multiple national polls, received 26 percent support in Arizona in a New York Times/Siena College survey released last October. President Biden and President Trump gained 33 percent each.
Mr. Kennedy has frequently told The Epoch Times that he will be on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and that he will face obstacles from the Democrat and Republican parties that are intent on keeping him off the ballot.
Last month, Mr. Kennedy announced that his campaign had filed paperwork in six states to create its own political party.
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The move was made to get his name on the ballot in those states with fewer voter signatures than is required for candidates not affiliated with a party.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign established the “We the People” party in five states—California, Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, and North Carolina. The “Texas Independent Party” was also formed.
Guidelines for securing a ballot spot differ in many states, as do deadlines.
Some states have varying guidelines about the number of signees in different parts of their state.
Signatures can be challenged after they’ve been submitted to election offices in multiple states.
Filing for political party status in the six states reduces the number of signatures required for Mr. Kennedy to gain ballot access by about 330,000, according to a statement by his campaign.
On Feb. 23, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign announced that the Hawaii Office of Elections confirmed he had collected the mandated 862 valid signatures from registered voters to create the “We the People” party in Hawaii and qualify for ballot access.
The first state where Mr. Kennedy qualified to appear on the ballot was Utah. He also collected more than 5,000 signatures in one day in New Hampshire to meet their guidelines for ballot access.
Multiple states give independent presidential candidates two methods of achieving ballot access; as an individual candidate or as the nominee of a new party, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign said in a press release.
The two processes often require different numbers of signatures, the campaign explained.
“In most states, the individual candidate process requires fewer signatures. However, in some states, party ballot access requires fewer signatures and is, therefore, the most direct path to ballot access in those states,” the campaign noted.
Mr. Lyons said that American Values 2024 will submit the signatures to Arizona and Georgia election offices in compliance with FEC requirements.
Earlier this month, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign was accused of receiving an illegal contribution from American Values 2024, to a Federal Election Commission complaint filed by the Democratic National Committee.
During a Feb. 9 call with reporters, DNC legal counsel Bob Lenhard said that Mr. Kennedy’s campaign is “in the process of accepting a $15 million unlawful in-kind contribution by coordinating their efforts to get him on the ballot.”
American Values 2024 is ignoring federal law, according to the complaint, Mr. Lenhard noted.
“The law does allow the super PAC to raise unlimited amounts of money from wealthy individuals, corporations, and unions for independent expenditures. But it remains illegal for a super PAC to provide goods and services directly to a campaign,” Mr. Lenhard said.
DNC spokesperson Ramsey Reid noted that billionaire Tim Mellon, one of former President Trump’s largest donors, gave American Values 2024 “the exact $15 million paycheck, they said that they would need for ballot access.”
Mr. Reid called the move “an effort to subvert our election laws” and “prop up” Mr. Kennedy.
Mr. Lyons said in a statement that the super PAC “has been working independently from the campaign in accordance with FEC precedent to get Bobby Kennedy on the ballot in 12 states.”
On Feb. 27, he told The Epoch Times, “The Biden/DNC-aligned super PACs have raised nearly a billion dollars, almost 40 times what American Values 2024 has raised. Yet they are literally terrified of Kennedy because they can’t buy him, control him, can’t keep him off the ballot, can’t ignore him, and the censorship and propaganda aren’t working.”
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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