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Michigan Supreme Court rules RFK Jr.'s name will appear on ballot
By Allen Cone,
14 hours ago
Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Despite his objection, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s name will appear on Michigan's Nov. 5 presidential ballot, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday.
In Phoenix in August, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is ending his campaign for the presidency. Photo by David Blakeman/EPA-EFE
The high court's decision reverses a Michigan Court of Appeals opinion Friday that allowed RFK Jr. not to appear on the ballot in the battleground state.
In a majority ruling, the court wrote that Kennedy "has not shown an entitlement to this extraordinary relief."
Kennedy, 70, had qualified after being nominated by the Natural Law Party, a minor party with ballot access in Michigan.
But on Aug. 23 , he suspended his campaign and endorsed Republican and former President Donald Trump . Kennedy doesn't want his name on ballots in battleground states in fear it would hurt the former president's chances against Vice President Kamala Harris , his Democrat opponent.
"In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I'm going to remove my name, and I've already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me," Kennedy said on Aug. 23.
Besides Michigan, battleground states are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin.
In North Carolina, Kennedy has won an appeal to remove his name from the ballot. This has delayed sending out ballots, which had been scheduled for last Friday.
Courts have ruled he is off the ballot in Georgia, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas. Wisconsin is keeping his name on the ballot.
Before his announcement , Kennedy's campaign had said there were enough signatures to appear on 47 ballots and officially gained access in 22 states.
The vote in the high court's opinion wasn't revealed.
It only shows that Justice Elizabeth Welch, a Democratic nominee, wrote a separate concurring comment and Justices Brian Zahra and David Viviano, both Republican nominees, wrote dissenting comments.
"When plaintiff made his request, defendant faced a deadline for ballot printing that was two weeks away," Welch wrote.
Democratic nominees have a 4-3 edge on the court.
In their dissenting comments, Zahra and Viviano said "no provision in law" supports Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's rejection of Kennedy's request to remove his name from the ballot.
"Now countless Michigan voters may be deluded and deceived into casting their ballots for a candidate who has no intention to hold the office," the dissenting justices wrote .
In an earlier ruling in the Michigan Court of Claims, Judge Christopher Yates ruled that minor party presidential candidates cannot withdraw from the ballot.
The ballots also will include independent candidate Cornel West. In a separate decision, Michigan's high court declined to take up an appeal that sought to have him disqualified.
Military and overseas ballots must be mailed by Sept. 21, with absentee ballots on Sept. 26.
...he probably wasn't going to get the "Independent" supporter vote anyways; it's not as if they were foaming at the mouth MAGA types. RFK Jr is too much of a whack job to be taken seriously.
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