Judge: RFK Jr. must remain on Michigan ballots and officials can ignore candidate 'whims'

A Michigan judge ruled Tuesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must remain on the ballot in that state, even after he suspended his campaign in there and threw his support behind former President Donald Trump.

The environmental lawyer and conspiracy theorist suspended his independent campaign last month and vowed to take himself off the ballot in every battleground state, to avoid stealing votes from Trump.

In Michigan, Kennedy sued and asked to remove his name from the ballot after Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said it was impossible for minor party candidates to withdraw.

"Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election," Cheri Hardmon, senior press secretary for Benson, told Axios in a statement last week.

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RFK sued on Friday and said the 2024 election "could be drastically changed, and the electorate's votes diminished and rendered invalid, if the Michigan Bureau of Elections places a name on a ballot for an individual that withdrew' from the race, Axios reported.

However, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates ruled in favor of the secretary of state, and said elections are "not just games, and the Secretary of State (SOS) is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office."

The news won't come as a surprise to many experts.

Analysts have said Kennedy cannot take himself off the ballot in Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin due to various state laws and passed deadlines.

In Wisconsin, the state's Elections Commission voted that Kennedy could not be removed from the ballot.