CARSON CITY, NEVADA—JUNE 3, 2024—The Kennedy campaign Friday filed a federal challenge to the Nevada Secretary of State's reinterpretation of the state’s ballot access rules.

In January, in exercise of statutory authority, the Secretary expressly approved the circulation of Kennedy's nomination petition without the name of Kennedy's vice-presidential running mate. After RFK Jr. collected all the signatures necessary to secure ballot access in Nevada, the Secretary announced in March that his office was wrong and petitions circulated without the name of a vice-presidential candidate were invalid. 

"This is a clear case for the federal court to apply the doctrine of equitable estoppel to prohibit the Secretary of State from changing his mind after providing binding statutory instruction upon which the campaign properly relied to our detriment,” said Kennedy Campaign Senior Counsel Paul Rossi. 

“The court must prohibit what was either rank incompetence or partisan political gamesmanship by the Secretary from invalidating petition signatures afforded the highest First Amendment protection by the United States Supreme Court."

The campaign’s aggressive ballot access operation will ensure the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket is on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The ballot access operation is fully funded with more than $15 million raised.

The Kennedy-Shanahan ticket is officially on the ballot in eight states — Utah, Michigan, California, Delaware, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Texas, and South Carolina. 

It has collected enough signatures for ballot access in nine other states — New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, New Jersey, and New York.

The Kennedy-Shanahan campaign has collected the signatures needed for ballot access in 17 states, totaling 238 electoral votes, 44% of the 538 total electoral votes nationwide. 

On May 1, the Kennedy campaign released results from a Zogby poll showing Kennedy beats both Presidents Biden and Trump in head-to-head matchups. Kennedy is the first independent ever to defeat both major party candidates in head-to-head matchups.

Learn more at Kennedy24.com. Visit our press page here.

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