RFK Jr. submits signatures, setting up potential ranked-choice race in Maine

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate, visited Portland, Maine in November and spoke to a crowd of more than 500 people. (AnnMarie Hilton/ Maine Morning Star)

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he has turned in the necessary signatures to be on the November ballot in Maine as a presidential candidate.

The Kennedy campaign said it turned in signatures from just under 5,000 voters Monday, according to a news release. Maine law requires at least 4,000 signatures from voters, but no more than 5,000 to be on the general election ballot as a presidential candidate.

Signatures were collected from nearly 500 municipalities, said James Donahue, the Maine state director for the Kennedy campaign.

The Department of the Secretary of State confirmed that Kennedy turned in enough signatures. However, there will be a challenge period from Thursday to 5 p.m. on Aug. 8. If there are no successful challenges to Kennedy’s appearance on the ballot, he will have then secured his spot.

If he is on the ballot alongside the Republican and Democratic nominees, Maine would then use ranked-choice voting for the presidential race since there would be more than two candidates.

Under ranked-choice voting , voters 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 whomever their voters ranked second. This process is repeated until one candidate wins a majority of votes.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate, visited Portland in November and spoke to a crowd of more than 500 people about his vision of rebuilding the middle class and taking power back from big corporations. His running mate is Nicole Shanahan , an attorney and entrepreneur from San Francisco.

Kennedy has submitted petitions to be on the ballot in 34 states and is working on the other 16, according to his campaign website. He is officially on the ballot of 13 states, as of Monday.

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