RFK Jr. files new petition in Nevada amid legal battle over ballot access

With less than a month left to collect signatures in Nevada, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a new petition with the Nevada Secretary of State’s office on Thursday, despite having already filed a lawsuit against the office in an attempt to secure their place in the state. voting.

The independent candidate filed a lawsuit against the Nevada office last week, two months after learning that the campaign’s collection of more than 15,000 signatures in the state would be invalidated because the petition that was distributed to voters did not list a pick for vice president, which is required by state law for access to the polls. Now, Kennedy has filed an amended petition listing his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, if the campaign’s lawsuit does not result in a victory for Kennedy.

As an office worker incorrectly reported After Kennedy campaigned in March that he did not need a vice presidential pick in the petition, the office maintained that the campaign received clear guidelines for ballot access in a memo the same month.

The Kennedy campaign alleged that the Democratic Party invented a new rule to invalidate its signatures in Nevada, and in an email sent to the office on Friday, Paul Rossi, the Kennedy campaign’s lead ballot access attorney, said: “the SOS reversed [its] position.”

However, Nevada has required independent candidates to name a vice presidential candidate on their petitions since 1993.

“Given the conduct of SOS, I want and hope that this will be approved today” in case “the federal process does not quickly produce the expected injunction against the secretary’s new position on the names of the vice presidents in the petition,” Rossi wrote in his and e-mail after submitting the amended petition.

The Kennedy campaign has until July 5 to submit new signatures to the office, which can be collected using the amended petition that now includes Shanahan’s name, the office told Rossi on Friday.

With less than a month to go, the campaign will work to collect about 10,000 new signatures in Nevada as the process continues.

Michael Arno, who runs a petition signature-gathering company and has worked on ballot access for several independent candidates and the No Labels effort, said collecting lots of signatures and more within that timeframe should be “very easy.”

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar previously said his office is prepared to face Kennedy in court.

“Nevada has a rich history of independent and third-party candidates. Each of these candidates was able to gain access to the ballot box by following the law. We look forward to seeing Mr. Kennedy’s team in court,” Aguilar said in a statement to CBS News. last week.

As Kennedy fights to gain access to the polls in Nevada, some Democratic Party leaders fear he could siphon votes from President Biden in the key battleground state. Biden won Nevada by more than 30,000 votes in 2020 against former President Donald Trump.

Somos PAC, a left-leaning, Latino-focused political organization, filed a lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Nevada to intervene in the Kennedy campaign lawsuit.

“Voting access laws are an essential pillar of our community and our democracy that protects voters and ensures they are informed about who they are applying to be on the ballot in November. If RFK Jr.’s campaign makes efforts to collect signatures and go through the proper channels to be included on the ballot while there is still time,” said Melissa Morales, president and founder of Somos PAC.

Supporters of the late Harry Reid, former Democratic Senate majority leader and Nevada native, have turned their attention to Kennedy and hope to slow down his efforts in the state by knocking on doors.

Reid, who died in 2021, was known for political organizing and voter mobilization, and his electoral coalition, known as the “Reid Machine,” played a crucial role in securing several Democratic victories across the state, including the victory of former secretary State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary in Nevada.

“Does anyone really know why RFK is running for president? This is the definition of a vanity race that could have very serious ramifications for the country,” said Kristin Ramos, a former Reid aide. “Nevada is a must-win state for both campaigns, and it’s hard to say right now who RFK is playing spoiler to.”