TRENTON, NJ – More than two months prior to a November election was not enough time, according to New Jersey’s Divisions of Election for RFK, Jr. to remove himself from the ballot.
Now, in moment of voter disenfranchisement, New Jersey is forcing counties to print ballots with a candidate that is not even running for office.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s last-minute attempt to withdraw his name from the New Jersey ballot has hit a serious roadblock, as state election officials determined there was no flexibility under the law. The New Jersey Division of Elections stated that independent candidates had until August 16 to drop out, a deadline that passed well before Kennedy’s request on September 6.
In a scramble, the Kennedy campaign contacted state officials to see if they could pull him from the ballot. But as Donna Barber, the acting director of the Division of Elections, explained, many counties were already deep into the process of preparing and printing ballots.
Bob Menendez, who was convicted a month prior will note on the New Jersey ballots.
According to the state, some had already finished, while others were in the middle of printing when the request came through. With ballots either ready or underway in most of the state’s counties, the officials deemed it too disruptive to stop the presses.
However, this decision didn’t go down without some debate. Earlier in the week, a New Jersey Superior Court Judge, John Harrington, had said that election deadlines in the state were merely “advisory” in an unrelated case.
But when it came to Kennedy, the Division of Elections wasn’t budging. They made it clear that such a move could threaten the integrity of the election.
Translation: It would not help Kamala Harris on Election Day. New Jersey is primarily a Democrat controlled state and agents of the Democrat party operate at every level of government.
Interestingly, Kennedy had already dropped out of the race in late August and endorsed Donald Trump. Despite that, he had originally planned to stay on the ballot in blue states like New Jersey—until now.
His last-minute plea to withdraw was stiffly resisted, leaving his name still set to appear on ballots.
While trying to remove himself from the ballots in swing states, he also told his supporters to vote for Trump no matter where they live—even if his name is still in the race on Election Day.
The New Jersey Democratic State Committee also got involved, with counsel Raj Parikh requesting the Secretary of State to remove Kennedy from the candidate list. Despite all the drama, New Jersey voters will likely still see Kennedy’s name staring back at them in November.