Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Nevada over ballot access.
The Independent's campaign says that the Nevada Secretary of State "approved the circulation of Kennedy's nomination petition without the name of Kennedy's vice-presidential running mate. After RFK Jr. collected all the signatures necessary to secure ballot access in Nevada, the Secretary announced in March that his office was wrong and petitions circulated without the name of a vice-presidential candidate were invalid."
Kennedy Campaign Senior Counsel Paul Rossi says, "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."
“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."
His campaign says he and his vice presidential candidate, Nicole Shanahan are on the ballot in eight states — Utah, Michigan, California, Delaware, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Texas, and South Carolina.
It has also collected enough signatures for ballot access in nine other states — New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, New Jersey, and New York.
The Nevada Secretary of State released this statement:
“In early March, the Secretary of State’s office sent guidance to all independent campaigns for president that had filed petitions for ballot access. This guidance highlighted the statutory requirements necessary for petitions to be valid. The guidance was sent well in advance of the deadline to submit signatures, which still has not passed. While some campaigns took the opportunity to refile petitions with our office, others did not.
Our office has received no official communication from Mr. Kennedy's campaign since the time our office sent that guidance. Earlier today, the Kennedy campaign sent a letter threatening to sue the Secretary of State over ballot access. Secretary Aguilar issued the following statement:
“Nevada has a rich history of independent and third party candidates for office. Each of those candidates managed to attain ballot access by following the law. We look forward to seeing Mr. Kennedy’s team in court.”
Our office will have no further comment.”
