The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name will be on the state’s presidential ballot. This appears to settle the legal battle and allows local clerks to start printing absentee ballots to mail to overseas and military voters. Kennedy is the nominee of the Natural Law Party of Michigan. But he tried to remove his name from the ballot after suspending his campaign and endorsing former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
The case pitted Kennedy against election officials in the Secretary of State’s office who determined Kennedy flouted Michigan’s deadlines and election standards.
The order in the case was unsigned but in written statements, there was clearly a division between justices nominated by the Democratic and Republican parties.
Justice Elizabeth Welch, who was nominated by Democrats, wrote in a concurring statement that Kennedy had plenty of time to withdraw and his late exit left the Natural Law Party of Michigan without a nominee after Kennedy sought and accepted the convention nomination.
“Plaintiff waited more than four months before asking defendant to remove his name from the ballot. When plaintiff made his request, defendant faced a deadline for ballot printing that was two weeks away,” she wrote. “Additionally, the Natural Law Party, which opposed plaintiff’s efforts to remove himself from the ballot, had no opportunity to field a candidate and faced considerable prejudice.”
In a dissenting opinion, two Republican-nominated justices said the decision will only add to election turmoil.
“The ballots printed as a result of the Court’s decision will have the potential to confuse the voters, distort their choices, and pervert the true popular will and affect the outcome of the election,” said Justices Brian Zahra and David Viviano. “In short, the Court’s ruling will do nothing to rebuild the public’s trust in the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”
There was some urgency to the case since the deadline to finalize ballots was last week so absentee ballots can be sent to military and overseas voters.
A court majority also ruled in a separate, unsigned opinion, that a paperwork error on petitions will not bar academic and activist Cornel West from the Michigan presidential ballot as an independent.
