Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sued the Nevada secretary of state Monday, pressuring him to declare the signatures on his ballot petitions legitimate, despite the official having already considered the signatures invalid.
Kennedy filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada against Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, who is responsible for overseeing elections in the state and determining which candidates are eligible for the ballot.
The case stems from guidance that the secretary of state’s office had initially provided to Kennedy’s campaign in January that it was not required to have chosen a running mate in advance of collecting the roughly 10,000 signatures needed for him to appear on the ballot. Aguilar’s office later said in March that an office employee had given “inaccurate guidance,” and the office clarified with all independent campaigns that filed petitions that a running mate needed to be chosen in advance of collecting signatures.
“This is a clear case for the federal court to apply the doctrine of equitable estoppel to prohibit the Secretary of State from changing his mind after providing binding statutory instruction upon which the campaign properly relied to our detriment,” Kennedy campaign senior counsel Paul Rossi said in a release.
“The court must prohibit what was either rank incompetence or partisan political gamesmanship by the Secretary from invalidating petition signatures afforded the highest First Amendment protection by the United States Supreme Court,” Rossi added.
Aguilar’s office wrote in a statement that it sent the correct guidance to all independent candidates who submitted petitions “well in advance” of the submission deadline, which has not yet passed.
“Nevada has a rich history of independent and third party candidates for office,” Aguilar said. “Each of those candidates managed to attain ballot access by following the law. We look forward to seeing Mr. Kennedy’s team in court.”
Candidates have until July 5 to submit enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Kennedy ultimately did not name a running mate until late March, a few weeks after submitting his petition for ballot access in Nevada. He chose tech attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.
The long-shot candidate alleges in the lawsuit that the Nevada statutes concerning whether independent candidates need to name their running mate in advance are “ambiguous and conflicting.” He also argues that a requirement for independent presidential candidates to name their vice-presidential pick before the major party candidates are required to violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
The case is part of Kennedy’s efforts to get on the ballot in as many states as he can for his independent run. His campaign has reported officially qualifying for the ballot in eight states and attaining enough signatures for ballot access in another nine states, including Nevada.
Kennedy is also attempting to qualify for the first presidential debate that CNN is hosting with President Biden and former President Trump later this month. Both Biden and Trump’s campaigns have attacked Kennedy and argued that he would serve as a spoiler in their opponent’s favor.
Polling has been mixed on which candidate Kennedy is drawing more voters away from compared to a two-way head-to-head matchup.
Still, Kennedy would have a lot of ground to make up even if he is successful in getting on the ballot throughout the country. The national polling average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ shows him in a distant third in single digits, with Trump and Biden well ahead.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.