RFK Jr. campaign resubmits signatures to appear on Nevada ballot

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign resubmitted petition signatures in Clark County seeking to appear on Nevada’s November ballot, this time with Kennedy’s running mate listed.

The campaign filed close to 20,000 petition signatures at the Clark County Election Department on Wednesday afternoon, just ahead of the July 5 deadline to submit the signatures for verification.

“Team Kennedy Nevada cleared another hurdle in getting Robert Kennedy Jr and Nicole Shanahan on the ballot by gathering 3 times the required 10,095 Nevada voter signatures in 100 degree heat in June,” said Randell Hynes, Nevada coordinator for the Kennedy campaign, in a statement.

Around 8,000 total signatures in Washoe, Sparks, Carson City, Storey and Douglas counties will be turned in by the Friday deadline, Hynes said.

As an independent candidate, Kennedy has to submit 10,095 signatures to county clerks and registrars of voters in order to appear on the ballot alongside the presumptive nominees, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Kennedy’s campaign announced in early March that it collected enough signatures to be placed on the November ballot. State law, however, requires independent presidential candidates to also list their vice presidential pick, whom the environmental lawyer didn’t announce as Nicole Shanahan until last March.

On March 7, however, the secretary of state’s office sent a memo to all independent candidates regarding the requirements to file in Nevada, including the law that requires independent presidential candidates to include their vice presidential nominee.

Kennedy’s campaign has challenged the secretary of state’s office in court. That lawsuit is still ongoing. The campaign accused Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, of working with national Democrats to keep Kennedy off the ballot.

National Democrats have attempted to keep the third-party candidate off of ballots across the country. In June, state and national Democrats backed a legal challenge filed in Carson City District Court to keep him off the November ballot.

Campaign volunteer Jon Du Pre said he is confident, while remaining skeptical through his career as a journalist, that Kennedy will appear on Nevada’s ballot in November.

“We’ve dotted every i and crossed every t,” he said. “We’ve far exceeded what is required of us.”

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.