WASHINGTON (CN) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to remove his name from Wisconsin’s presidential ballots, claiming that his support for former President Donald Trump is being compromised.
“In just the same manner as Kennedy has a right to access the ballot, he has a concomitant right to get off the ballot,” the former independent candidate said in his latest emergency application to the nation’s highest court. His request comes less than a month after his unsuccessful appeal to be added to New York’s ballot, which coincided with a unanimous ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court refusing to remove him from the state’s ballot.
Ballots have been printed and toting has already begun in Wisconsin, but Kennedy wants the election commission to add a sticker over his name usually reserved to indicate a candidate’s death.
“Kennedy is trying (as best he can) to avoid voter confusion and preventing his actual message — I’m supporting Trump for the presidency — from being drowned out by the confusion created by his name being on the ballot,” Kennedy wrote.
Wisconsin election officials worry that the sticker will lead to logistical delays in counting ballots in the key swing state. Kennedy’s sticker solution hasn’t been tested on the state’s voting machines and could force a hand count across the state.
After suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump in August, Kennedy asked to be removed from Wisconsin’s ballots. A lower court denied his request for a preliminary injunction.
Kennedy’s removal request came two weeks after Wisconsin’s deadline for nomination papers from independent candidates. Republicans and Democrats had an extra month to nominate their candidates. Kennedy argues that the unequal treatment of his First Amendment rights violates the equal protection clause.
“If Kennedy were a major party candidate, he would not be on the ballot today and would not have had to pursue this suit,” Kennedy wrote. “And since that’s true, it’s clear that he’s being treated differently and his rights have been violated.”
Kennedy has filed ballot access challenges in several battleground states where the presidency could be decided by thin margins. He succeeded in having his name removed from ballots in North Carolina, where a state appeals court ordered ballots to be reprinted.