Wisconsin State Officials Approve Jill Stein, Cornel West and RFK Jr. for Ballot
RFK Jr. drops out of the presidential campaign and supports Donald Trump
Kennedy’s decision came amid speculation that he was seeking a role in a second Trump administration.
A day after the state Supreme Court rejected an appeal to remove Green Party candidate Jill Stein from Wisconsin’s ballot, the nonpartisan Wisconsin State Elections Commission confirmed that she will appear on the swing state’s ballot in November.
The commission also kept independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot on Tuesday, even though he has suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump. Although he has tried to remove his name from the ballot in swing states, Wisconsin law does not allow Kennedy to withdraw his nomination at this time.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission also allowed independent candidate Cornel West to stand on the ballot after rejecting an objection claiming his candidacy was not properly filed due to notarial issues. A Democratic National Committee employee had filed that objection, and another against Stein.
More: How Democrats are trying to exclude third-party candidates from the Wisconsin ballot
In the most recent Marquette University Law School poll, released in early August and before Kennedy dropped out, Vice President Kamala Harris had a two-percentage-point lead over Trump when third-party candidates were included. Kennedy’s poll numbers have fallen to 8% from double digits at the start of the year, and other third-party candidates are polling at 1% or less in Wisconsin.
Here’s everything you need to know about the WEC’s action and why third-party candidates will be on the ballot in Wisconsin.
Will Jill Stein be on the ballot in Wisconsin?
The Wisconsin Election Commission approved Stein for election on Tuesday. In February, the commission cleared the way for Green Party candidates to appear on the Wisconsin ballot.
On Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court also declined to hear a lawsuit against Stein’s ballot list. But WEC Chair Ann Jacobs expects further lawsuits over the Green Party’s ballot list.
“This is a major victory against the anti-Democratic Party’s war on democracy and freedom of choice,” Stein said in a statement Monday. “The Democrats constantly preach about ‘saving democracy,’ when in reality they are doing everything they can to destroy democracy by trying to remove the Green Party and others from the ballot.”
The Wisconsin Republican Party also viewed the court’s decision as a victory. “If Democrats want to win voters, they must do so through serious persuasion, not disqualification,” the party’s state chairman, Brian Schimming, said in a statement.
Will RFK Jr. be on the ballot in Wisconsin?
Kennedy’s name will remain on the Wisconsin ballot even though he is no longer running as an independent and is supporting Trump, meaning votes could still be cast for him in Wisconsin.
After dropping out of the race, Kennedy requested that his name be removed from the ballot in several swing states, such as Arizona, because he believed his “presence would spoil the election.” Kennedy also submitted this request to the Wisconsin election commission.
But Wisconsin law says that anyone who files nominating papers and meets the requirements to appear on the ballot – which Kennedy did – cannot refuse the nomination. That person will appear on the ballot “except in the case of death.”
Several commission members raised questions about Kennedy’s motion, noting that the ballot had not yet been determined—that was the purpose of the meeting. But the commission voted 5-1 to keep Kennedy on the ballot, with Republican candidate Bob Spindell casting the lone no vote.
Don Millis, a Republican commission candidate, said the law was “troubling to me.”
“Before we set the ballots, I think it makes sense to give a candidate the opportunity to withdraw his candidacy, and I have a hard time doing that,” Millis said.
Other commissioners, however, said the law leaves no room for discretion. “The only way he can stay off the ballot is if he just dies, and I’m assuming he doesn’t plan to do that,” Jacobs said. “The law is absolutely clear on that.”
“I think we have to follow the law in this case. We get sued enough times already. This case is clearly an invitation to be sued again,” said Mark Thomsen, a Democratic-appointed member of the commission.
More: What you should know about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for the presidential election in Wisconsin
Will Cornel West be on the ballot in Wisconsin?
The commission also allowed independent candidate Cornel West to appear on the Wisconsin ballot.
Earlier, during the session, the Commission had dealt with an objection to his inclusion in the ballot paper, which related to the candidacy declarations of him and his running mate Melina Abdullah, as well as disputes over the notarial certification of the documents.
The WEC commissioners rejected this objection by a vote of 5-1, with Jacobs casting the only no vote, stating that she believed West should appear on the ballot but not Abdullah because of problems with the notary public over her forms.
West’s candidacy has been supported in Wisconsin by Trump allies who believe third-party candidates could improve the former president’s chances in November. Four employees of a Republican-aligned campaign firm collected signatures in Wisconsin in support of West, USA TODAY reported.
More: Cornel West gets support from Trump’s allies to get on Wisconsin ballot
Who are the presidential candidates on the Wisconsin ballot?
Following actions by the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Tuesday, the following presidential and vice presidential names will appear on the ballot in the November 5 election:
Candidates of the major parties
- Kamala D. Harris and Tim Walz, Democratic Party
- Donald J. Trump and JD Vance, Republican Party
- Randall Terry and Stephen Broden, Constitution Party
- Chase Russell Oliver and Mike ter Maat, Libertarian Party
- Jill Stein and Butch Ware, Green Party of Wisconsin
Independent candidates
- Cornel West and Melina Abdullah, Justice for All Party
- Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia, Party for Socialism and Liberation
- Robert F. Kennedy and Nicole Shanahan, We The People Party
President Joe Biden was able to be replaced on the ballot after he dropped out of the presidential race in July because the deadline for him to register had not yet passed. The deadline for parties to confirm the names of their candidates at the WEC is September 3.
Some voters in Wisconsin will soon receive ballots with their names on them: The deadline for clerks to mail absentee ballots to voters with applications on file is September 19.
More: Wisconsin hasn’t passed the deadline to vote for Biden yet. Here’s why.
What do polls show about third-party candidates in Wisconsin?
In the Marquette University Law School poll released earlier this month, Kennedy was at 8% of registered voters, down from 13% and 16% in previous months. Stein was at 1% in that poll and West was at less than 0.5%. Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver also came in at 1%.
Pollster Charles Franklin noted this week that more Republicans than Democrats supported Kennedy and said Kennedy’s decision to support Trump would “likely” cause those Republicans to move back behind the former president.
Franklin said polling earlier this month found 21 percent of independents support Kennedy, and the tendencies of third-party voters are difficult to predict.
“We found that they are not 100% following their natural interest group,” Franklin said of Kennedy voters who may support Trump. “And that’s partly because they’re voting for Kennedy in the first place because they don’t like Donald Trump. If they liked Donald Trump, they would have voted for him in the first place.”
“Some of them will drop out,” Franklin said. “Some of them might switch to another third-party candidate, some of them might not vote at all because as a group they are quite unhappy with the government.”
Regarding the influence of third parties in Wisconsin, Franklin said, “Ultimately, I don’t expect much change.” He said the presence of Stein and West on the ballot would likely take votes away from Harris.
Stein was last on the Wisconsin ballot in 2016, where he received more than 31,000 votes, which many believe may have helped Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. A few thousand votes can decide the election in the contested state of Wisconsin: In 2020, Biden won the state by just over 20,000 votes, similar to Trump’s lead over Clinton four years earlier.
Franklin plans to conduct a new poll on Wednesday that will not include Kennedy’s name in the multi-candidate race.
He said the poll would include a separate question about support for Kennedy if he had stayed in the race.
“It’s complicated when someone has said they’re no longer a candidate but their name is still in the running,” Franklin said.
