New York Trial Ends, DNC Tries to Remove Kennedy From Ballot After Record Number of People Sign Petition

ALBANY, NY—AUGUST 8, 2024—Independent Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified this week at the Albany County Supreme Court, where the DNC is trying to remove him from the New York ballot after a record-breaking number of people signed his petition.

As the Kennedy campaign racks up ballot access victories nationwide — submitting two, three, and even four times the number of validated signatures required to qualify in each state — the DNC is pouring millions into a legal crusade against Kennedy, resorting to frivolous and often comical efforts to stop people from casting their votes for him. 

The New York lawsuit, brought by Clear Choice PAC, a DNC super PAC focused on attacking independent candidates, seeks to invalidate Kennedy’s petition by alleging he falsely claimed a residence in New York. 

“This case is an assault on New York voters who signed in record numbers to place me on their ballot,” said Kennedy. “The DNC has become a party that uses lawfare in place of the democratic election process.”

During the four-day trial, Kennedy's attorneys demonstrated his deep ties to New York, which has been his primary residence since 1964. Kennedy’s voting registration and fishing and falconry licenses are from New York. His law office is in New York. He pays taxes to New York State. He even keeps his beloved falcons in New York. He has never claimed any other state as a residency. He intends to move back to New York as soon as his wife Cheryl Hines retires from acting.

Presidential candidates must use the same residence address across all 50 states and several states require candidates to use the state in which they are registered to vote on ballot access petitions. In observance of these laws, Kennedy correctly used his New York address on his ballot access petitions. Doing otherwise would have resulted in an immediate lawsuit and exclusion from state ballots.

The 12th Amendment guarantees all American adults of sufficient age the right to run for President, even if their work requires them to spend time in a different state from the state in which they are registered to vote and to which they intend to return.

The Kennedy campaign is mounting the strongest independent challenge to the corporate-funded parties in more than 30 years. Last week, the campaign surpassed more than 1 million signatures collected nationwide. Kennedy has received more signatures from Americans to get on the ballot than any other candidate in U.S. history. Rather than making a positive case for their nominee, the Democratic Party is politicizing our nation’s courtrooms in an effort to restrict voters’ rights to choose the candidate they like best. 

The Kennedy campaign has a perfect record of winning ballot access legal challenges, including in Hawaii, Idaho, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Utah.

The campaign’s historic ballot access operation has surpassed all its milestones to 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 campaign has now collected the signatures needed for ballot access in 45 states, totaling 503 electoral votes, 93% of the 538 total electoral votes nationwide.

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

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