Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted from New York ballot after court judgment revealed that he had lied about his residency on the nomination form; Kennedy’s campaign could be significantly affected by this and other states may question his eligibility.
According to CBS News, Judge Riba ruled that it was in bad faith for Kennedy to claim he lived in New York State on a ballot application.
“Notwithstanding said overwhelming credible proof presented during the trial, the connection of Mr. Kennedy with [New York] address existed only on paper alone and was kept solely for purposes of retaining his voter registration in new york state as well as political standing”.
By August 15th, the decision can be appealed by the Kennedy campaign. If the ruling is upheld, Mr. Kennedy would be disqualified from running for office on the New York ballot and possibly face challenges elsewhere where he collected signatures using a New York address.
Event Responses and Calls
The campaign lambasted what they called an openly partisan decision by calling it one such ruling however, which was not surprising looking at how some Democrats had also portrayed themselves during such hearings or elections. The reasoning behind this is a belief that New York has always been Robert’s main place of residence given his voter registration, taxes paid to it and even having licenses like driving ones specifically designed for this state.
Robert F. Kennedy himself slammed Democratic Party members who made up most of those present at yesterday’s hearing as “showing contempt for democracy” while trying to prevent voters’ choice if you do not believe you have chances of winning at polling stations. He expressed confidence that this judgement will be overturned since he is going to appeal against it anyway.
Details from testimony
During proceedings before court, Kennedy testified that when growing up he considered NY as his home state but moved temporarily to California so as stay with his wife there. In NY he allegedly rented a room although according to Barbara Moss, owner of premises where she stayed with him briefly and for only one night, she received $500 per month in rent with the first payment done this year on May 20th.
The wider legal and political context
The super PAC, Clear Choice Action is behind the lawsuit against Kennedy. Clear choice action also filed lawsuits against Mr. Kennedy over in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nevada and Delaware.
According to Pete Kavanagh, founder of Clear Choice Action a super PAC connected with the Democratic Party which is supposed to stop third-party candidates from running for president, Mr. Robert F. Kennedy intentionally mislead election officials and betrayed voters’ trust. He did say that more lawsuits could be filed by the lawyers representing Kennedy but he has no expectation they would endure.
Political Reaction
“His actions clearly demonstrated that he was not concerned about America,” explained Matt Corridoni – spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee – who said that Dem’s nominee was nothing but a spoiler for Donald Trump since there were rumors going around at some point suggesting that he could vote for him in exchange of benefits from Republican candidate. After New York issued its verdict on Friday afternoon; Corridoni noted that his committee will take a look at what is available in other states as well afterward.
