Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pursuing legal action against the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s office, as well as the Director of Elections, alleging that the current ballot petition rules for independent candidates violate his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
A copy of Kennedy’s lawsuit shows that he names Utah Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson and Director of Elections Ryan Cowley as defendants. It contends that the current rules surrounding petitioning pose a severe economic burden on him, as satisfying the timeline for signature validation in the current election cycle would require hiring expensive professional petitioners to meet the deadline.
“No state in the history of the United States has sought to impose such an early date to collect, validate and file ballot access petitions to secure ballot access for the general election to be held on the far-off date of November 5, 2024,” the lawsuit states.
“The challenged early deadline imposed on Plaintiff RFK and his campaign to secure ballot access for the 2024 Utah general election is, on its face, a severe violation of rights guaranteed under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution for which the State of Utah has no compelling nor legitimate interest to enforce and for which Plaintiff RFK is entitled to the requested immediate emergency temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent equitable relief.”
The current law states that independent candidates like Kennedy must have the required signatures for ballot access and an official nomination certificate by January 8, 2024, at the latest.
This timeline means that such candidates must collect at minimum 1,000 signatures by mid-December to realistically meet the deadline and allow clerks adequate time to inspect and validate, giving Kennedy a matter of weeks to petition.
The timeline for Kennedy is a considerable change from what Utah has done in the past. In previous election cycles, independent candidates like Kanye West in 2020 and Evan McMullin in 2016 successfully petitioned and were approved to appear on the ballot as late as August of those respective years.
A copy of the lawsuit filed by Kennedy can be accessed here, courtesy of an article on the topic produced by Kayla Winn of local media outlet KUTV.
If we could only get that federal court ruling transferred to here in Texas.
Utah already lost in federal court in 1984 when its independent presidential petition deadline was April 15. Utah admitted in the 1984 lawsuit that even April 15 was too early, and the legislature changed it to September, and then some years later changed it to August. But then in 2022 the legislature forget all that history and moved it to January.