Clear Choice Action, a Democratic-affiliated super PAC aimed at thwarting third-party presidential candidates, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the ballot box in the crucial state of Pennsylvania.
Kennedy is also facing challenges from the same super PAC in New York and Illinois. In New York, the PAC alleges that Kennedy’s state nomination petition falsely listed a residence in the affluent northern suburbs of New York City, when in fact he has lived in the Los Angeles area since 2014. Kennedy testified in court Tuesday to contest the lawsuit. In Illinois, the PAC filed an objection to his nomination petition. The issue is expected to be considered by the Illinois State Board of Elections on Aug. 23.
According to the Pennsylvania PAC’s petition, Kennedy falsified his home address on state papers, and the group argues that several pages of signatures on the petition should be ignored because of “irregularities” with the signatures. The super PAC also claims that Pennsylvania law required Kennedy to submit more signatures than he collected. Kennedy’s campaign announced in June that it had submitted more than 9,000 signatures in the swing state, nearly double the required number.
“All candidates for President of the United States must undergo the same testing and meet the mandatory requirements for access to the ballot box, yet time and again across the country Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and We The People Party misled voters, failed to comply with legal requirements, and made a mockery of the democratic process,” said Pete Kavanaugh, founder of Clear Choice Action. “The bottom line is that every candidate and party must play by the same rules.”
Groups associated with the Democrats have expressed concern about Kennedy’s impact on the electionsportraying him as a contender who could hand victory to former President Trump by luring voters from crucial states away from the Democratic presidential candidate.
In 2016, third party candidate Jill Stein received nearly 50,000 votes in Pennsylvania, with Hillary Clinton ultimately losing the crucial state to Trump by about 44,000 votes.
Kennedy’s campaign is committed to gaining access to the ballot box in all 50 states, and RFK Jr. has consistently stated that he will stay in the race to give voters another option in November.
“We anticipated a challenge in Pennsylvania, the most hotly contested swing state in the election, so we collected four times as many signatures as needed to get on the ballot — so many that the Democratic Party could not challenge the signatures and was instead forced to cobble together a frivolous challenge to our petitions,” said Stefanie Spear, press secretary for the Kennedy campaign. “We have won every legal challenge to ballot access to date and look forward to defeating the DNC in Pennsylvania and giving the people of the Keystone State the opportunity to vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this fall.”
The Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s office has not yet commented.
