As Vice President Kamala Harris’s and former President Donald Trump’s campaigns move forward as the mainstream candidates, some third-party candidates still made a splash this election cycle.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign last week and endorsed Trump, saying he would take his name off the ballot in swing states to minimize his role as a spoiler. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and liberal independent candidate Cornel West are still running their campaigns despite polling around 1%.
Here is where third-party candidates will be, won’t be, and might be on the ballot this November.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
When Kennedy ended his campaign and endorsed Trump, he encouraged people in solidly red and blue states, where he would be unlikely to sway the outcome, to vote for him. While he has tried to take his name off the ballot in swing states, he has had little success. He will appear on the ballot in the swing states of Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. He successfully took his name off the ballot in Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina.
Kennedy is on the ballot in the following states:
- Alaska
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Vermont
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Kennedy’s access to the ballot is awaiting confirmation in the following states and the District of Columbia:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Missouri
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Virginia
- Washington, D.C.
Kennedy will not be on the ballot in the following states:
- Arizona
- Florida
- Georgia
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
New York
Earlier this month, Kennedy lost a legal challenge in New York after a court deemed his New York address, which he used to file for ballot access, invalid. The Kennedy campaign inferred his ballot access could be threatened in dozens of other states where he used the New York address, but the matter became moot after his exit from the race.
Michigan
Following Kennedy’s exit from the race, a Michigan judge ruled that it was too late for him to withdraw his name from the ballot. Kennedy fought the decision but lost in September when Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates determined the deadline for him to withdraw and be removed from the ballot had passed.
“Elections are not just games, and the Secretary of State (SOS) is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office,” Yates wrote. “Because the Court concludes that the SOS acted well within the bounds of the law, the Court shall deny the requests by plaintiff for (relief).”
Nevada also determined that it was too late for Kennedy to withdraw his name, and Wisconsin certified his appearance on its ballot this week.
“Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election,” Cheri Hardmon, senior press secretary for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, told Axios.
In the Wolverine State, Kennedy was polling at around 2% of the vote, which equates to about 167,820 votes. In 2016, due in part to the presence of third-party candidates, Trump beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by less than 1 percentage point, or 10,700 votes. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by more than 150,000 votes.
North Carolina
Ballots in North Carolina are being reprinted to exclude Kennedy after he won his challenge to remove his name from the ballot.
After some back and forth with the North Carolina courts, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that ballots must be reprinted without Kennedy’s name. The ruling acknowledged the late timing of the order.
“We acknowledge that expediting the process of printing new ballots will require considerable time and effort by our election officials and significant expense to the State. But that is a price the North Carolina Constitution expects us to incur to protect voters’ fundamental right to vote their conscience and have that vote count,” the high court said.
Jill Stein
Stein will be on the ballot in the following states:
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- South Carolina
- Utah
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a challenge from the Democratic National Committee to kick Stein off the ballot. Democrats argued Stein and her running mate should be barred from appearing on the general election ballot because Stein’s party, the Green Party, does not hold any statewide offices or have the state legislative candidates needed to nominate presidential electors.
In 2016, Stein was viewed as a spoiler candidate here, as well as in Michigan and Pennsylvania, as she took in votes from the left wing of the party in small margins but larger margins than Clinton lost the state. In Wisconsin in 2016, Stein earned about 31,000 votes while, at the same time, Trump beat Clinton by 24,000 votes.
Cornel West
West will appear on the ballot in the following states:
- Alaska
- Colorado
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Nebraska
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Vermont
- Washington
- Wisconsin
Arizona
In August, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said West’s campaign did not file the proper paperwork to get ballot access in the state before the certification deadline.
Michigan
West won a legal battle in Michigan after Michigan Court of Claims Judge James Redford ruled that the state was wrong to disqualify West from the ballot after the state cited problems with West’s petition. Redford ruled Michigan had “misapplied the law” by ruling that the affidavit of identity filing requirement applies to presidential candidates when “the AOIs the candidates filed cannot serve as a mechanism to exclude them from the ballot.”
Pennsylvania
Earlier this week, West lost a legal challenge to gain ballot access in Pennsylvania due to insufficient paperwork.
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Wisconsin
West is set to appear on Wisconsin’s ballot, in part thanks to help from Republican operative signature gatherers. Documents from the Wisconsin Elections Commission reviewed by USA Today revealed that four people who are employed at the Republican-aligned political canvassing firm Blair Group Consulting worked to gather signatures on behalf of West’s candidacy.
Polling indicates that West is poised to take votes from Harris this election.
