Election officials in Utah, Delaware, Oklahoma, Michigan and Tennessee have confirmed that Kennedy will appear on the ballot. Additionally, CNN counted California and Hawaii, where Kennedy is the minor party's presumptive nominee, but the state has not certified him or received his papers. Those states have a total of 100 electoral votes. Kennedy has not yet met the debate voting requirement, but could if qualified vote results are announced by Thursday.
Kennedy had hoped to appear on the ballot in all 50 states early in order to gain national attention by appearing on the same debate stage as the two major party candidates, and he points to his exclusion as evidence of unfair treatment by the political parties and the media.
The Kennedy campaign has spent months gathering the signatures required by states to allow independent candidates (candidates without a political party affiliation) to appear on the November ballot. Those signatures are reviewed by state election officials before a candidate is approved to run. Kennedy could also appear on a state's ballot if he is the nominee of a minor party that has already petitioned to appear on the ballot. But many election officials told The Washington Post that they won't approve such petitions or endorse minor party candidates for several weeks, making it impossible for Kennedy to meet the requirements in time for the debate.
Kennedy's campaign argues that Biden and Trump are similarly ineligible to appear on the stage because, under CNN rules, they are not formally selected as presidential candidates. The Republican and Democratic nominating conventions are held in July and August, respectively. But CNN According to CNN, Trump and Biden are their respective parties' presumptive nominees, and both meet the Electoral College criteria for the debate because major party candidates do not have to petition states for ballot access.
“Merely applying for ballot access is not a guarantee that you will appear on the ballot in any state,” a CNN spokesperson said in an email to The Washington Post. “Furthermore, RFK Jr. does not currently meet the polling standards established prior to issuing debate invitations, as well as other objective criteria.”
Kennedy's campaign statements and website use a variety of terms to describe his voting efforts. A tracker on his website lists 23 states that it declares as “petition complete,” but when you select a state it says “voting in progress.”
“The dark purple color indicating 'petition completed' is accurate, but the statement underneath that it is 'on the ballot' is premature,” New York Board of Elections spokeswoman Kathleen McGrath said in an email, adding that the board would certify “late summer” after considering objections to the petition.
Campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Speer did not respond to questions about the inconsistencies in the campaign's claims about Kennedy's voting rights, but said it was “nonsensical” to question Kennedy's failure to meet the 270-electoral vote requirement.
“At the end of the day, he is entitled to more electoral votes than both President Trump and President Biden,” Speer said in an email.
The campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on May 29, alleging that Biden, Trump, their respective campaigns and CNN “conspired” to remove Kennedy from the debate stage, but FEC disputes typically take time to resolve.
Kennedy's campaign claims in a news release that he has not even qualified to vote. The campaign first claimed he was “overqualified” in a June 7 news release, listing nine states where Kennedy is “officially” eligible to vote: Utah, Michigan, California, Delaware, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Texas, South Carolina and Florida. But officials in Florida, California, Hawaii, Texas and South Carolina told The Post that Kennedy has either submitted a petition or been nominated by a minor party with voting rights but has not yet completed the certification process.
In Florida, Kennedy is the nominee of the Reform Party, a centrist party founded by Ross Perot in 1995. But the nearly dissolved party lost voting rights last year and has not yet completed the paperwork to return and place Kennedy on the ballot, according to Reform Party National Chairman Nicholas Hensley. Hensley expects they will meet the September deadline to place Kennedy on the ballot in Florida, well past CNN's June 20 debate deadline. The claim that Kennedy is on the ballot in Florida is not included in the campaign's upcoming press release, but it remains on its website.
“I think somebody got ahead of themselves,” Hensley said.
In South Carolina, election officials said the Alliance Party, a minor party with voting rights in the state, had nominated Kennedy as its candidate, but that they had also received a petition submitted on Kennedy's behalf to run as an independent. Despite verbally accepting the Alliance Party's nomination, state election officials said they had not received written confirmation that Kennedy had accepted it, meaning that Kennedy is not officially on the ballot as he claims.
“We expect he will be on the ballot, but we can't say for sure,” said John Michael Catalano, a spokesman for the South Carolina State Board of Elections.
Seeking access to the ballot as an independent candidate is cumbersome, requiring signature gatherers in many states at great expense, as well as lawyers to navigate a complex patchwork of state-specific election laws. Kennedy has sued election officials in Nevada, New York and Idaho, claiming that the rules are unfair or illegal. In New York, for example, Kennedy's lawyers say the campaign spent $1.1 million on signature collection and is facing numerous challenges from Democratic groups. These groups argue that Kennedy's petitions should be invalid because he provided an address other than his home and tens of thousands of signatures were illegible or did not belong to New York voters. Kennedy's campaign has not responded to all the allegations, but has told media that Kennedy considers his New York home to be his legitimate address.
Bernard Tamas, a political science professor at Valdosta State University in Georgia and author of “The End and Rebirth of America's Third Party,” said third-party candidates typically have an advantage with polls closing in the late summer, giving them time to continue organizing even after the major-party candidates are nominated. Kennedy has strategically delayed some of his petitions to avoid challenges.
“His problem is that the debates are moving so fast that it's not a good environment for him to participate in,” Tamas said. “There are just moments when it doesn't go well for him.”
Kennedy has explored easier ways to get on the ballot, such as seeking the nomination of a minor party already on the ballot in states or even starting his own minor party, but that comes with its own challenges and complications.
In North Carolina, a group of Democrats has railed against the tactic, also deployed by independent Cornel West, arguing the party has no political footing. The petition is just one part of the party platform other than providing access to the ballot and identifying the portion of voters who signed the petition without knowing the party's intentions. The Election Commission, which determines ballot access, has yet to rule on the complaint.
Meanwhile, Hawaii election officials say they have not received the nomination of Kennedy's recently formed “We the People” party, which he formed to garner more votes.
“He may be the presumptive nominee through the For the People Party, which is eligible to field candidates in the 2024 election, but we won't know who will appear on the ballot until we receive candidates from eligible parties,” state elections board spokeswoman Auri Teng said in an email.
Kennedy's campaign announced in a news release Monday that he had received ballot status in Mississippi, where his party nominated him, but in the same email, Kennedy's campaign acknowledged that the party has not yet filed its paperwork in the state.
