Independent Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr. will reportedly not make the debate stage next week with former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden in Atlanta, Georgia.
The former Democrat will apparently fail to satisfy CNN’s stringent ballot access requirement by Thursday, the Washington Post reports.
CNN noted in May that candidates must “appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold” necessary to win the White House to make the June 27 debate. The Post reports Kennedy is currently eligible for 100 electoral votes when considering states he is certified in and other states, like California and Hawaii, where CNN recognizes him as the presumptive nominee of a minor party:
His campaign has spent months gathering the signatures that states require for independent candidates — those not affiliated with a political party — to appear on the ballot in November. Those signatures are then verified by state election officials before the candidate is certified to appear. Kennedy can also appear on states’ ballots if he’s nominated by a minor political party that has already petitioned for ballot access. But many election officials told The Post they won’t certify those petitions or green-light minor party nominees for several weeks, making it impossible for Kennedy to check off the requirement in time for the debate.
The Kennedy campaign’s online running ballot access tracker indicates that, as of Wednesday, it has completed petitioning in two dozen or so states, where he would be eligible for 310 electoral votes if all states’ petitions were officially certified.
This is up from the 14 states it claimed it had completed petitioning in when CNN announced the threshold on May 16, as Breitbart News reported at the time.
However, the Washington Post’s ballot access analysis of the campaign shows Kennedy has been certified for the ballot in five states thus far.
When one clicks on a state the campaign categorized as “petitioning complete” on its website, he or she is directed to the phrase, “We’re on the ballot.”
New York Board of Elections Spokeswoman Kathleen McGrath wrote in an email to the Washington Post this classification in New York was “premature” and that certification would take place in “the late Summer.”
CNN indicated that Trump and Biden are both considered their parties’ presumptive nominees and, therefore, meet the ballot access requirement. Trump has made it clear that he would welcome Kennedy to the debate stage with them.
To qualify, candidates also have to score 15 percent in at least four polls recognized by the network.