Wisconsin clerks print ballots even as RFK Jr. sues to get his name off them
WATERTOWN, Wis. — As county clerks print their ballots and ship them to the greater than 1,800 municipal clerks that administer Wisconsin elections, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to be attempting to get his title off them.
Kennedy filed on the Wisconsin deadline for impartial candidates Aug. 6 however ended his presidential bid Aug. 25 by endorsing former President Donald Trump.
The Wisconsin Elections Fee 4 days later denied his request to be taken off the poll, citing state regulation that claims the title of an individual who recordsdata nomination papers and qualifies to look on the poll “shall seem upon the poll besides in case of demise of the individual.”
Kennedy filed a lawsuit difficult the fee’s determination, arguing state regulation doesn’t deal with third-party and major-party candidates equally. The court docket denied his preliminary-injunction request, and the choose is scheduled to difficulty an oral ruling Tuesday.
County clerks should ship the ballots to municipal clerks by the following day, since Thursday, Sept. 19 is the deadline to mail absentee ballots to voters with requests on report for the final election.
Milwaukee County Elections Director Michelle Hawley informed The Put up the county has greater than 600,000 ballots to print, they usually’ve already been despatched to the printer. It might value about $80,000 to reprint them.
She mentioned the printer doesn’t have sufficient items of the specialised poll paper required to reprint the ballots.
“It might take a few days to supply the paper, and we might by no means meet our statutory deadlines,” Hawley warned.
It might be a “huge problem” to reprint if the court docket guidelines in favor of Kennedy, she admitted.
The Wisconsin Division of Justice requested Hawley to submit documentation to the court docket in Kennedy’s case concerning what steps it could have to take to take away Kennedy’s title from the greater than 524 variations of ballots the county has.
The listing of considerations consists of one answer — stickers overlaying RFK Jr.’s title — gumming up the poll machines, which have specialised sensors to weigh the ballots.
“In Wisconsin, a lot of the clerks have already gone to print,” Eau Claire County Clerk Sue McDonald informed The Put up. “A few of our [ballots] have already been circulated to municipal clerks.”
Some municipalities “have already got ballots available” and are stuffing them in envelopes for his or her standing absentee-ballot requests.
Kennedy filed a petition for go away to attraction in a Waukesha County appeals court docket final week, asking the court docket to “act and act rapidly,” saying “he wants the Court docket to deal with his constitutional arguments and take him off the poll.”
If a good ruling for Kennedy is handed down within the subsequent couple days, McDonald mentioned her nation additionally must reprint ballots this week.
Some municipal elections clerks have already despatched the digital poll to abroad and navy voters.
Kennedy nonetheless garners 6% of the Wisconsin vote in a matchup of all of the presidential candidates in Marquette Legislation Faculty polling launched final week. The survey additionally discovered Kennedy was the best-known of the third-party candidates on the poll.
