RFK Jr. was late for court in Pennsylvania. That could cost him a ballot spot
Why is RFK Jr.’s nomination being scrutinized so closely by Pennsylvania voters?
Ford said his clients argue Kennedy’s nomination is invalid for two reasons.
“We argue that RFK misrepresented his residency in his nomination papers and his affidavit,” Ford said. “And that is a mandatory part of the nomination papers that must be presented to voters before they decide whether or not to sign RFK’s nomination papers to put him on the ballot.”
Kennedy claims to live in New York. Ford says he lives in California.
Ford also argued that Kennedy had not met the minimum number of voter signatures required for third-party candidates in Pennsylvania.
“Under election law, third parties are required to submit a number of signatures from registered voters equal to two percent of the highest number of votes received by a candidate at the state level in the last election,” Ford said.
If Kennedy wanted to meet these guidelines, he would have had to collect about 33,000 signatures this year. He submitted about 23,000 signatures.
“But in the mid-2010s, there was a federal court case that said higher hurdles combined with the threat of costs from other parts of the election law were unconstitutional with respect to the Green Party, the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party,” Ford said.
For example, Pennsylvania Secretary of State guidelines require third-party candidates to collect only 5,000 signatures to be eligible to appear on the ballot statewide. He believes Kennedy does not have the same burden and therefore cannot benefit from this decision.
Not only was Kennedy barred from testifying in the case, but he also received an “adverse inference” from the judge regarding the constitutionality of the signature requirement. That is, the court drew an adverse inference in his favor because he had not presented evidence.
Even if Kennedy had shown up on time, the judge ruled that Kennedy would not have been able to make his case.
Shanahan criticized Clear Choice on X, calling it “the most undemocratic and anti-American PAC in the game.”
