Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. made a last-minute bid to remove his name from the ballot in New Jersey, but state election officials determined they had no flexibility under a law that set an August 16 deadline for independent candidates to drop out of the race.
The Kennedy campaign contacted the Division of Elections on Thursday with a request to drop his New Jersey campaign. A survey was then sent to county clerks to determine how far along they were in the ballot preparation and printing process.
“The counties of New Jersey have been working to finalize their ballots and get the ballot design to the printers to meet the statutory deadlines. As of September 6, 2024, all counties have transmitted their ballots to the printer,” said Donna Barber, the acting director of the Division of Elections. “One county has had all of their ballots printed. One county has printed all of their federal ballots. The ballots for two counties are currently being printed. The ballots for three other counties were scheduled to begin printing today, September 6, 2024.”
Barber said that “to remove Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. from the ballots in New Jersey this far beyond the statutory deadline and with the printing of the ballots either completed or well underway in many of the counties could cause substantial disruption to election preparations and potentially jeopardize the integrity of the election.”
The decision is at odds with a statement made by Superior Court Judge John Harrington in an unrelated election matter this week, where Harrington said that statutory election deadlines in New Jersey are merely advisory.
Kennedy dropped out of the race on August 23 and endorsed Republican Donald Trump. While he tried to take his name off the ballot in some swing states, he initially said that he would not do that in some blue states, including New Jersey.
Yesterday, Kennedy told his backers to vote for Trump no matter where they lived, even in states where he’ll remain on the ballot.
The counsel to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, Raj Parikh, asked Secretary of State Tahesha Way to drop Kennedy from the list of candidates.
Among other things, Parikh provided Way with Kennedy’s sworn affidavit to the Arizona Secretary of State where he affirmed that he “will not seek, hold, or accept election or appointment to the office of President.”
Way turned Parikh down.
State appellate courts in North Carolina and Michigan removed Kennedy from their ballots today.
Kennedy had initially challenged Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.
This story was updated at 11:50 PM with comment from Barber.