Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will not be able to remove his name from the ballot in Michigan or Wisconsin, both key swing states in November, according to recent decisions from local election authorities.
The Michigan secretary of state’s office said Monday minor party candidates are not able to withdraw once they have been nominated.
“So his name will remain on the ballot in the November election,” Cheri Hardmon, a spokesperson for the office, told NBC News.
Wisconsin’s state election commission also voted to decline Kennedy’s request to remove his name after he filed paperwork asking it do so last Friday. The body noted in its decision that state statute notes anyone who files nomination paperwork and qualifies to appear “may not decline nomination.” The only way for them to be removed, the chair of the commission added, was by death.
“We know Trump and Kennedy are playing games,” Mark Thomsen, a Democrat on the election commission, said in a statement to The Associated Press. “Whatever games they’re playing, they have to play them with Kennedy on the ballot.”
Kennedy suspended his independent presidential bid and endorsed former President Donald Trump last week, although he said he wasn’t formally ending his run.