RFK Jr Submits 30,880 Signatures To Appear on Nevada Ballot

The Nevada Secretary of State (SOS) has confirmed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign has submitted 30,880 signatures for his independent presidential bid to appear on the ballot in November.

Each county will now have to verify that the signatures are valid by July 25, 2024.

In March, Team Kennedy announced they had collected more than 15,000 signatures in Nevada and had also announced his running mate, Nicole Shanahan. But without Shanahan listed on the petition, the 15,000 signatures were null and void.

Team Kennedy then filed a lawsuit claiming that a SOS staffer provided incorrect information to the independent candidate when he began the petition process to appear on the ballot. At that time, a staffer allegedly advised the campaign that Kennedy did not need to list his running mate on the petition. According to state law, an independent candidate must include a vice presidential candidate on the petition. Team Kennedy contends that the statute is unconstitutional.

The SOS office acknowledged the error, but in a statement to CBS News, SOS Francisco Aguilar stated that he was looking forward to “seeing Mr. Kennedy’s team in court.”

“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,” Aguilar told CBS news.

Somos PAC, “a latino-led organization dedicated to electing progressive candidates” immediately filed to intervene in the lawsuit claiming that “Team Kennedy is “attempting to circumvent Nevada state law and force himself onto the ballot this November.”

Somos PAC contends that his appearance on the ballot will cause them to “completely rework both its voter engagement and paid media programs, thereby requiring it to divert critical and limited resources that were already earmarked for other states.”

The Nevada Democratic party, in coordination with the Democratic National Committee, filed a separate lawsuit against Kennedy’s attempts to run as an independent candidate in the Silver State alleging that Kennedy’s affiliation with political parties in various state violates Nevada law for independent candidates.

Nevada law stipulates independent candidates must not be registered with a political party or proposing to run with a political party. Kennedy is a registered Democrat in New York and has accepted nominations in other states. He is running for his own We the People Party in Hawaii, the American Independent Party in California, the Natural Law Party in Michigan and the Reform Party in Florida

American Values 2024, the super PAC supporting Kennedy, claims it has collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and South Carolina and intended on spending an additional $10-$15 million on collecting signatures in other states. However, the Democratic National Committee “filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Kennedy’s independent presidential campaign and American Values 2024, alleging the two were illegally colluding on ballot access for Kennedy.”

Should Robert F. Kennedy Jr. secure a place on the November ballot, 12 percent of Silver State respondents would support his independent run.