Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid to appear on every state ballot ahead of this year's general election began in Utah, where he qualified for his first.
Kennedy extolled the Beehive State as the "pioneer state" after he filed to get his name on the state's ballot Wednesday, part of a $15 million effort to secure ballot access across every state, and the District of Columbia, for the presidential election.
All it took was a lawsuit to push back Utah's deadline, 1,000 verified signatures from registered voters, and a fee.
"Utah has once again shown that it is the pioneer state," Kennedy said in remarks at the state capitol in Salt Lake City.
"I have a lot of ties to this state, I love this state, and I'm very, very grateful for the role that these volunteers and the people of the state have played in this election process."
Kennedy filed a lawsuit against Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson early last month to push back the state's Jan. 8 deadline to file for ballot access, calling it "clearly unconstitutional" and "the earliest deadline on independent presidential candidates in the history of the United States." Days later Henderson announced the state would extend its deadline to March 5 in the "spirit of affording every reasonable opportunity for unaffiliated presidential candidates to participate in our general election."
RFK Jr. beat the original deadline anyway, but bemoaned that many states have significant barriers to qualifying for ballots as an independent candidate.
"Some of the states have rules that are — it's negotiating this labyrinth of these arcane rules that we now have in every state that are all designed to suppress dissent, to make sure that there are no options for Americans outside of the major political parties," Kennedy said.
Kennedy has amassed a massive campaign team that is tracking the particulars of each state's requirements, including deadlines, filing requirements, and mobilization efforts to collect signatures.
"These are roadblocks or obstacles, but none of them are insurmountable. We will be on the ballot in 50 states and the District of Columbia," Kennedy said.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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