RFK Jr. can stay on North Carolina ballot, judge says

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the North Carolina ballot after a state judge rejected an appeal from the North Carolina Democratic Party.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections ruled last month that Kennedy’s party, the We the People Party, did qualify for the state’s ballot. Wake County Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory rejected an appeal to that decision.

The state Democratic Party claimed the 4-1 vote approving ballot access violated due process and that Kennedy’s party was set up only to avoid tougher qualification rules for individual candidates.

“You simply asked this court to look at the law, and you said the state board didn’t violate it,” Gregory said to conclude the hearing, according to The Associated Press. “I agree.”

Democratic-affiliated group Clear Choice Action filed the initial complaint, arguing We the People should not be given ballot access. The group sent text messages to some voters who signed the parties’ petitions to question their motives and investigate the signature process, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

We the People Party was required to file 13,000 signatures to gain ballot access, while Kennedy would have needed over 80,000 on his own, Clear Choice Action argued.

But attorneys for We the People argued that state law only requires a new political party to have a purpose, even if that purpose is to put a single candidate on the presidential ballot. Gregory agreed.

The state board upheld a similar challenge against independent candidate Cornel West’s party, the Justice for All Party, last month. A group of his supporters sued the state over the ruling.

Kennedy has claimed he will have ballot access in 46 states, which have a combined 329 electoral votes, though access has only been confirmed for 15 states. He is confirmed to be on the ballot in the key battlegrounds of Michigan, North Carolina and Nevada.

His access in New York was rejected later Monday by a state judge who ruled that his claimed residency in a rented room near New York City was actually a “sham” residence. The Kennedy campaign said it will appeal that ruling.