Libertarian and two independent candidates added to Maine’s presidential ballot

A campaign sign for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Portland, Maine. (AnnMarie Hilton/ Maine Morning Star)

There will be two independent presidential candidates on Maine’s November ballot, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, pending any challenges to the validity of their candidate petitions, as well as Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver .

With these candidates qualified for the ballot as of Friday, Maine’s presidential election is expected to use ranked-choice voting because there will be more than two candidates for voters to choose from.

Both Kennedy and West turned in the required 4,000 signatures from Maine voters by Aug. 1 to get on the Nov. 5, 2024 General Election ballot. Kennedy had 4,859 signatures and West had 4,978, according to the Maine Secretary of State’s Office.

Kennedy — nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, lawyer and activist, whose views have veered into conspiracies, notably on vaccines — will appear on the ballot with running mate Nicole Shanahan, who is a lawyer and philanthropist.

West — a well known Black scholar and former professor at Harvard and Princeton universities — is running with Melina Abdullah, who is a university professor and Black Lives Matter activist.

The Libertarian Party submitted its presidential nominee to the Maine Secretary of State on Friday. Oliver — a former Democrat and anti-war activist who has described himself as “ armed and gay ” — is running with Mike ter Maat, a former professional economist and police officer.

Ballot challenge deadlines

Under state law , any registered Maine voter can challenge the validity of candidate petitions. Voters can challenge Kennedy and West’s petitions before 5 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2024.

This is the challenge process that initiated the debate about former President Donald Trump’s primary ballot eligibility in Maine late last year.

Outside of Maine, West’s ballot eligibility in Michigan has been challenged by an activist who claims West’s qualifying petitions were “rife with forged signatures.”

In Maine, if there remain more than two candidates on the presidential ballot, ranked-choice voting will occur, which means voters will indicate which candidate is their first choice, second choice, and so on.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of first choice votes on election night, the lowest candidate is eliminated and their votes get reassigned to whoever their voters ranked second. This process is then repeated until one candidate wins a majority of votes.

Upcoming nominations

The full presidential ballot in Maine is not yet set, as some of the parties haven’t completed their nominations through their respective conventions.

Aside from the Democratic and Republican parties, other parties are qualified to have candidates on the ballot in Maine, including the Libertarian , Green Independent and No Labels parties, though the latter is not expected to nominate a candidate.

So far, the Secretary of State’s Office has received candidates from the Republican Party, whose ticket is Trump and J.D. Vance, in addition to the Libertarian Party candidates.

Enough Democratic delegates selected Kamala Harris during an ongoing virtual vote to make her the party’s presidential nominee by Friday , though the vote will not officially close until Monday evening.

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