Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced Wednesday that his campaign had secured enough signatures to appear on Alabama’s ballot in the upcoming November presidential election.
That brings the total number of state ballots Kennedy will be on to 42 with a possibility of earning 480 electoral votes — 89% of the 538 total electoral votes nationwide.
His campaign did not say how many signatures Kennedy received in Alabama, but the minimum requirement is 5,000. He turned in the signatures nearly a month before the August 23 deadline. Kennedy claimed the most recent batch of signatures brings the nationwide total to 1 million, the most for any presidential candidate in American history.
During a press briefing, Kennedy expressed excitement at the recent surge in ballot signatures while still lamenting the “draconian” ballot access rules that compelled the laborious signature process. At the same time, so many Americans identified as independents.
“We have an army of volunteers, over 100,000 now, who have worked on getting ballot access for us. It really was a monumental effort," he said. "The rules, draconian and Byzantine rules that govern ballot access in the 50 states, were written by the Democratic and Republican party to prevent competition; to make it insurmountable for an Independent candidate for the presidency to ever get their name on the ballot in all 50 states.”
The Kennedy-Shanahan ticket is officially on the ballot in 13 states: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and now Alaska, Indiana, and Nebraska.
The campaign has submitted its signatures in 19 states: Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.
It has collected enough signatures for ballot access in 10 states: Florida, New Hampshire, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and Virginia.
“More than 50% of Americans now identify as Independents,” independent vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan said. “There has never been a better opportunity for a third-party candidate to have success, especially with a unity ticket. We are here to unite the country.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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