MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin trying to get his name removed from the battleground state’s presidential ballot after the state elections commission voted to keep him on it.
Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Republican candidate Donald Trump. Kennedy said he would try to get his name removed from ballots in battleground states, while telling his supporters that they could continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome.
Kennedy also filed a lawsuit in neighboring Michigan but a judge ruled Tuesday that he must remain on the ballot. A lawsuit filed Friday in North Carolina seeking his removal from the ballot is pending.
Kennedy argued in the Wisconsin lawsuit filed Tuesday in Dane County Circuit Court that third party candidates are discriminated against because state law treats Republicans and Democrats running for president differently.
Republicans and Democrats have until 5 p.m. on the first Tuesday in September before an election to certify their presidential nominee. Independent candidates like Kennedy can only withdraw before the Aug. 6 deadline for submitting nomination papers.
State law does not provide a way for independent presidential candidates to remove themselves from the ballot after they have submitted nomination papers, unless they die. Kennedy filed his papers before the Aug. 6 deadline.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission, citing that law, voted 5-1 last week to approve Kennedy’s name for the ballot after an attempt by Republican commissioners to remove him failed. That vote allowed county election clerks to begin printing ballots to meet upcoming state deadlines for mailing absentee ballots.
Kennedy is asking that the elections commission be barred from putting his name on the ballot and that the court put the commission’s vote on the matter on hold.
A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Elections Commission did not respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit.
Kennedy is one of eight presidential candidates on the ballot in Wisconsin.
The presence of independent and third party candidates on the ballot could be a key factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.
In 2016, Green Party nominee Jill Stein got just over 31,000 votes in Wisconsin — more than Trump’s winning margin of just under 23,000 votes. Some Democrats have blamed her for helping Trump win the state and the presidency that year.
