He’ll probably be on the ballot.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer, said Monday he submitted more than double the necessary petition signatures to appear on the November presidential ballot in Texas.
Kennedy, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, needed to collect 113,151 signatures from registered Texas voters who did not vote in the Republican and Democratic primaries in March.
His application to appear on the Texas ballot included 245,572 signatures, Kennedy said.
The Texas secretary of state’s office must verify that Kennedy met state requirements before his name can appear on the November ballot as an independent. Agency spokeswoman Alicia Pierce confirmed Kennedy’s campaign submitted its ballot application Monday.
Kennedy’s campaign said he will be on the ballot in five states — Utah, Michigan, California, Delaware and Oklahoma — and has collected enough signatures to appear on ballots in Texas and eight other states.
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His views on abortion have shifted several times throughout his campaign. Last year at the Iowa State Fair, Kennedy said he supported a federal ban on abortion after three months of pregnancy but later walked that back after receiving criticism.
Last week, he said on a podcast with former ESPN personality Sage Steele that he opposed any government restrictions on abortion, “even if it’s full term.”
On Friday, he dialed that statement back and said on social media that abortion should be legal until a fetus is viable outside the womb — which is about 24 weeks — but should be banned after that point.
I was going to write some things about this but I’m a little addled right now thanks to the power outage at our house. Suffice it to say that I expect him to be on the ballot, and that we will argue over how much of the vote might have gone to Biden and how much might have gone to Trump if he hadn’t been until the heat death of the universe. I think he will ultimately get far less support than current polls say, but that’s just a feeling. You can have whatever feelings you want about it. I don’t intend to pay him much attention.
I was asked to sign one of those. I passed.
I did a quick check of the SOS page, and there hasn’t been an independent candidate on Texas’s presidential ballot since 2000 (Pat Buchanan – I’m assuming the Reform Party didn’t have ballot access on their own). I remember Ross Perot’s ballot access activities in 1992 and 1996, but I guess they had to be more in-your-face than they do now to be successful.
I was asked to sign one by at least one person who didn’t mention I couldn’t sign if I voted in one of the primaries. That used to be the rule, I assume it still is.
Bill, yes, that is the rule. If you did sign it and you had voted in a primary, your signature should be invalidated by the SOS.