RFK Jr. sues Nevada’s top election official over ballot access as he scrambles to join debate stage

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign filed a lawsuit Friday against Nevada’s top election official, alleging a requirement that independent candidates must name their running mate by the time they start gathering signatures for ballot access is unconstitutional.

The filing in the U.S. District Court of Nevada comes just over two months after Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s office clarified guidance that would likely nullify signatures that Kennedy Jr’s campaign collected for November’s ballot due to the petition not listing a running mate. Kennedy Jr’s campaign said in the lawsuit that they received approval in January from Aguilar’s office allowing them to collect the required 10,095 signatures for a petition that did not list his vice presidential selection.

The requirement to name a running mate on the petition, the campaign alleges, violates the 1st Amendment and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

“Every communication with Defendant’s staff on this issue repeatedly confirmed that a VP candidate could not be named on the petition,” the lawsuit states. The campaign described the secretary of state’s office interpretation of the law as “ambiguous and conflicting.”

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