The Reform Party has regained a place on the ballot in Florida, and the party's presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will appear on Florida's November ballot.
“We are excited to give Floridians the choice to go independent in November,” Reform Party of Florida Chair Jennifer Desatoff said in a press release issued Friday. “We looked forward to working with the Kennedy campaign here in Florida and making history together.”
The National Reform Party nominated Kennedy as its presidential candidate last month, and some media outlets quickly announced that he would be on the Florida ballot as well.
However, as The Phoenix previously reported, the Florida Department of Elections revoked the Reform Party's registration as a minor political party last August. The news came after the department mailed the party a “Notice of Intent to Revocation” after the party failed to comply with its 2022 annual public audit.
Reform Party officials said at the time they would file paperwork to regain voting eligibility in Florida, and on Friday they said they were notified by the Department of Elections that their information “appears to comply with the requirements of Florida Statute 103.095 and the name of the Minor Political Party Executive Committee has been added to the Minor Political Party List.”
There has been much speculation about how Kennedy's appearance on the state's ballot could negatively impact President Joe Biden and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. A Fox News poll released Thursday night found that if Kennedy were on the ballot in Florida, he would receive 7% support if the election were held today.
This is likely to be a further blow to Biden in Florida, where Trump has a 4 percentage point lead in the head-to-head race, but if you include not only Kennedy but also third-party candidates Jill Stein and Cornel West, Trump's lead over Biden grows to 7 percentage points.
