The Wisconsin Elections Commission Tuesday put independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Green Party’s Jill Stein on Wisconsin’s presidential ballot despite partisan disagreements over whether they belong there.
GOP appointees originally pushed to honor a request by Kennedy to be kept off the ballot despite Dem objections that isn’t allowed under state law. Two Dem appointees, meanwhile, questioned Stein’s eligibility to appear on the ballot because the Green Party doesn’t have any members eligible to nominate presidential electors.
Members warned the decision to approve Stein for the ballot could lead to legal challenges.
“I rather imagine no matter how we do it, we’ll have a lawsuit tomorrow morning,” Chair Ann Jacobs said.
The commission’s votes to place eight candidates on Wisconsin’s presidential ballot comes as the state is again expected to be hotly contested this fall after Joe Biden won it by less than 21,000 votes in 2020. It also kicks off a narrow window for county clerks to get ballots printed in time to deliver them to local election officials by Sept. 18 so they can start going out the next day to those with absentee ballot requests on file.
Kennedy announced on Friday he was withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsing Donald Trump. His campaign then sent a letter to the commission asking that he not be included on Wisconsin’s ballot. But the commission noted there is no mechanism for a candidate to take back nomination papers once they’ve been submitted.
GOP appointee Don Millis initially moved to honor Kennedy’s request, saying he had a hard time understanding the statute and was frustrated by it. That drew a rebuke from Jacobs, who said Millis was “giving me this touchy, feely, like I feel that should been the law” argument despite what the statute says.
The commission first deadlocked 3-3 along party lines on a GOP motion that wouldn’t have included Kennedy on the ballot. It then voted 5-1 to approve a Dem motion to include him, Cornel West and a third independent candidate with GOP member Bob Spindell the only one opposed.
Dem Commissioner Mark Thomsen said Wisconsin law, which states that anyone who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline the nomination, is clear.
“We know that Trump and Kennedy are playing games,” Thomsen said. “Whatever games they’re playing, they have to play them with Kennedy on the ballot.”
The state Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a suit filed by Democratic National Committee staffer David Strange arguing the Greens were ineligible to place a candidate on the Wisconsin ballot. That’s because the party has no one eligible to participate in a meeting called for in state law for parties to select their electors.
The court didn’t weigh in on the merits of the argument, and Jacobs raised the issue in arguing that the Green, Libertarian and Constitution parties all are ineligible to place candidates on the presidential ballot because of the requirement despite meeting other benchmarks.
Millis called that position “outrageous,” arguing the commission hasn’t previously cited that as a reason to keep a candidate off the ballot. He also said the statue might violate the U.S. Constitution.
“I’m concerned about reading that broadly to make it impossible for these third-party candies to ever be on the ballot,” he said.
The commission voted 4-2 to approve a motion to place Stein and four others — including Kamala Harris and Trump — on the ballot.
Ahead of those votes, the commission voted 5-1 to reject a challenge to West’s candidacy that had been filed by a staffer for the Democratic National Committee. It argued the filing for West and his running mate weren’t properly notarized. Jacobs cast the lone no vote, saying she believed West’s filing was in order, but his running mate Melina Abdullah hadn’t properly had her documents notarized. Millis rejected that argument as a technicality.
The commission approved a total of eight candidates for Wisconsin’s presidential ballot: Harris as the Dem nominee; Trump as the GOP candidate; Stein for the Greens; Randall Terry, of the Constitution Party; and Chase Russell, a Libertarian Party candidate.
Along with West and Kennedy, independent Claudia De la Cruz, who is running under the Party for Socialism, will appear on the ballot.
The Commission also sustained the challenge against independent candidate Shiva Ayyadurai, a native of India, because the U.S. Constitution requires candidates for president to be native-born citizens.
The presence of third-party candidates could have a significant impact on the November race in Wisconsin. The latest Marquette University Law School Poll found in a head-to-head contest, 50% of registered voters backed Trump, while 49% supported Harris. In a multicandidate race, 45% Kamala Harris, while 43% supported Trump and 8% supported Kennedy. Kennedy was at 16% in January.
Kennedy drew support from 10% of self-identified Republicans in the poll, conducted July 24-Aug. 1, and 4% of Dems.
