Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confident he will win the 2024 presidential election. To have a fighting chance, the Democrat-turned-independent will need to navigate the complex web of ballot access in all 50 states.
Kennedy held a rally in Kansas City in December to kick off his effort to get ballot access in Missouri. He needs 10,000 signatures from Missouri residents by the end of July to qualify.
“States make it very, very difficult for anybody to get on,” Kennedy told KBIA. “They have short time periods, large amounts of signatures that are needed and a lot of other conditions.”
Kennedy is on a nationwide tour to secure ballot access and has already secured enough signatures to get on the ballot in a few states, including New Hampshire and Utah. Before securing ballot access in Utah, he won a lawsuit against the state to extend its signature deadline.
Some states’ requirements are more laborious than others. While he just needs 10,000 signatures in Missouri, Kennedy will need more than 140,000 signatures in Florida.
“Some of the states make it really difficult, almost impossible,” he said.
It’s also set to be costly. American Values 2024, a super PAC backing Kennedy, pledged to spend $15 million to help his ballot access effort. The same group bankrolled his $7 million Super Bowl advertisement.
“They require a million signatures, and typically, those signatures on average will cause a candidate about $15 a base,” Kennedy said. “So that means you can't run for president as an independent unless you start off with $15 million. And that's a big penalty, because the mainstream political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, they don't have to raise that money.”
At the December rally in Kansas City, Kennedy enlisted dozens of volunteers and collected hundreds of signatures. Supporters came from a variety of different political backgrounds.
“I was very impressed about how willing people are to get him on the ballot,” said volunteer Gail Buffington, who herself has supported Democratic, Republican and third-party candidates in past elections. “Even if they don't support him, they do support more options.”
Michael Henson also collected signatures for Kennedy at the rally. He voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. He says people have been enthusiastic to sign, which is good because the Kennedy campaign plans to overshoot the 10,000 signatures needed.
“They estimate basically, six out of 15 signatures will get challenged in a court of law,” he says. “So we're actually trying to target roughly about 17,000. The more we can get the better.”
Kennedy will need the signatures by the end of July to qualify for Missouri’s ballot. Despite the state’s strong support for former President Donald Trump, he says it’s an important battleground on his path to the White House.
“I'm on my way to ballot access and to the 270 votes I need to prevail,” he said. “Missouri is an important state. I'm here because of that, and I will be back to do a lot of campaigning in the state.”