In the 2020 presidential election, North Carolina was a significant jump position as Joe Biden won just under 2 % of the vote.
According to a press release his plan released on April 1, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has collected enough names to appear on the ballot for the North Carolina national election.
Considered a crucial battleground position, North Carolina has 16 electoral votes. It is the most significant condition in which Mr. Kennedy has been able to win a vote so far.
In the 2020 presidential election, North Carolina was the five- closest swing position in the 2020 presidential election. With 50.1 percentage of the ballot, President Donald Trump won the state, compared to 48.7 percentage for Joe Biden.
Mr. Kennedy has stated repeatedly that he will appear on the general election ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia since announcing past October that he would leave the Democrat political key and run as an Independent.
Democrats and Republicans are expected to face difficulties in determining whether names are valid, but Mr. Kennedy’s plan has stated that they are collecting 60 % more signatures than is required in every state.
In North Carolina, Mr. Kennedy is running under the We the Folks party, which he established earlier this year. His campaign has collected 23, 000 names, which is 10, 000 more than required.
Before Mr. Kennedy introduced Nicole Shanahan, a Silicon Valley lawyer, businessman, and entrepreneur, as his running mate next week, his campaign was constantly gathering signatures in 16 states.
Many states mandate that separate and third-party individuals name a vice president before gathering signatures. Mr. Kennedy’s news of Ms. Shanahan opened 19 more states for the signature- selection process.
” We have the discipline groups, individuals, legal team, paid circulators, followers, and strategists ready to get the work done”, Stefanie Spear, Mr. Kennedy’s press secretary, said in a statement, adding that the applicant will appear on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Mr. Kennedy so far has qualified for the vote as an Independent in Hawaii, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Utah, and then North Carolina under the We the People group.
In January, Mr. Kennedy’s plan said it had filed papers in six says to create a social group. His name was put on the votes with fewer voter signatures than those says require for affiliated candidates.
According to a speech from Mr. Kennedy’s plan, registering for democratic party position in each of the six states reduced Mr. Kennedy’s campaign’s ability to obtain vote access by about 330, 000.
The We the People group was established in five states: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, and North Carolina. Additionally, the Texas Independent Party was established.
British Values 2024, a super PAC working to find Mr. Kennedy elected, said it has collected enough valid signatures for the applicant to get on the ballot in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and South Carolina.
Mr. Kennedy closed February with access to more than$ 23.7 million cash, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Since announcing that he would run as an independent rather than a Democrat, Mr. Kennedy has lamented the difficulties that an impartial member faces in opposition to Democrats and Republicans, who are exempt from the right to vote restrictions.
The campaign said in a speech that “nearly all of our budget is dedicated to achieving vote exposure in the 50 states and [the District of Columbia] so we can stop these political stunts aimed at keeping energy between two and only two political parties.
On Super Tuesday, March 5, Mr. Kennedy’s plan claimed it had collected enough names to appear on the ballot for the Nevada standard election while President Biden and former President Trump celebrated numerous successes.
Nevada is regarded as a crucial swing state in the national vote. In 2020, Joe Biden won the state by less than 35, 000 vote over President Trump. Mr. Kennedy’s plan said it had gathered 15, 000 names to get on the Nevada vote.
After the Nevada Secretary of State’s company admitted to making a mistake in informing his vote access group that independent candidates had “designate a candidate for vice president” when collecting signatures to be cast on the state’s ballot, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign is now threatening legal action.
” After successfully collecting all of the signatures we need in Nevada, the DNC Goon Squad and their lackeys in the Nevada Secretary of State’s office are outright inventing a new requirement for the petition with zero legal basis”, Paul Rossi, Mr. Kennedy’s ballot access attorney, said in a statement.
The VP on the petition is not required by the Nevada statute. The petition does not even have a field for a VP on it”, Mr. Rossi added.
One of Mr. Kennedy’s ballot access managers sent an email to Mr. Rossi asking if a vice presidential candidate had to be listed on the petition forms. A staffer for the secretary of state of Nevada said,” No.”
On Jan. 9, the secretary of state’s office approved Mr. Kennedy’s petition, according to documentation that Mr. Rossi has presented.
The secretary of state’s office offered an apology for misinforming Mr. Kennedy’s campaign, but stated that it must abide by the law governing the gathering of petitions. With Ms. Shanahan listed on the ticket, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign may need to start resurging in Nevada.
Democrat Cisco Aguilar is Nevada’s secretary of state.
Last month, Mr. Kennedy successfully challenged a ballot access deadline in Idado.
He filed a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s Section 34- 708A, which mandates independent candidates to submit petitions for nomination with at least 1, 000 verified signatures to the Secretary of State’s office no later than March 15.
John Anderson, a presidential candidate at the time, filed a case from 1980 that the legal action referenced. The state of Ohio’s March 20 deadline for independent presidential candidates was deemed in violation of the U.S. Constitution because it was too early and did n’t let voters learn enough about any candidates besides those in the two major parties.
Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane was informed by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill for the District of Idaho that he would extend the March 15 deadline if the state legislature did n’t change it.
Prior to Utah Lt. Governor, the Kennedy campaign had the first deadline in mind. Republican candidate Deidre Henderson announced that she would increase the deadline for independent presidential candidates to March 5 to receive ballot access.
Mr. Kennedy filed a lawsuit against Utah officials on Dec. 4, 2023, citing an “unconstitutional early filing deadline” that prevented ballot access for Independent presidential candidates.
The lawsuit challenged Utah’s Jan. 8 deadline for independent presidential candidates to gather and verify 1, 000 signatures from qualified voters.
According to Mr. Kennedy, the lawsuit asserts that” the current deadline is the earliest deadline ever sought to be imposed on independent presidential candidates in the modern era.” No federal court has ever upheld a January deadline]for Independent presidential candidates ]”.
Ultimately, although the deadline was extended, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign held a news conference before the Jan. 8 deadline announcing that he had met the requirements to appear on the state’s general election ballot.
In November, I will be cast in all 50 states and the District of Columbia! It’s a challenging system running outside the lines of Republican or Democrat channels, but I would n’t have it any other way”, Mr. Kennedy wrote on X last month. It is obvious that Americans want to leave the two-party system.