by Thérèse Boudreaux
A Dane County Circuit court ruled against former Independent party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., siding with the Wisconsin Election Commission’s decision to keep Kennedy’s name on the state’s ballot this November, despite his withdrawal from the race and request for removal.
Kennedy’s lawsuit argued that, absent a compelling reason, the state’s different treatment for third party candidates violates the Equal Protection Clause and the First Amendment. It claimed the different deadlines for ballot withdrawal for major party candidates versus third-party candidates – Sept. 3 for the former and Aug. 6 for the latter – are unlawfully discriminatory.
Judge Stephen E. Ehlke disagreed, saying Kennedy’s request was essentially that the WEC ignore Wisconsin election law, which only allows a certified candidate to exit the ballot in case of death.
“Courts are required to apply the law as written, not as some party wishes it were written,” Ehlke said. “Under the statute, the commission clearly was correct when it certified Mr. Kennedy for inclusion on the November ballot.”
Ehlke also said Kennedy’s First and Fourteenth amendment rights were not violated, given that “there is no constitutional right to have your name removed from a ballot after you voluntarily submitted your nomination papers with full knowledge that the statutes don’t allow you to withdraw your name.”
After withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsing former President Donald Trump, Kennedy had sent a letter Aug. 23 to the WEC, requesting his name be removed from the ballot.
But in its certification of presidential candidates five days later, the WEC voted 5-1 to put Kennedy’s name on the ballot, saying he had missed the Aug. 6 deadline for third party candidates to withdraw from the General Election. Following the decision, county clerks were authorized to begin printing ballots and Kennedy filed his lawsuit.
“The bottom line here is that Mr. Kennedy has no one to blame but himself if he didn’t want to be on the ballot,” Ehlke said.
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Thérèse Boudreaux is an apprentice reporter covering Michigan and Wisconsin for The Center Square, under the mentorship of Midwest Regional Editor J.D. Davidson. Her work focuses on election-related news in these two states. Previously, she interned at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Thérèse graduated with a major in politics from Hillsdale College in May of 2024, where she produced award-winning radio journalism.
Photo “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
