Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will not appear on New York’s November presidential ballot because he falsely claimed New York residency, a state court ruled Monday.
Judge Christina Ryba said the apartment outside New York City that Kennedy claimed as his residence was “not a bona fide legal residence but merely a ‘fake’ address he used to maintain his voter registration.”
The challenge was filed by Clear Choice Action, a Democratic group that has challenged Kennedy and other third-party candidates’ voting rights across the country.
Mr. Ryba said the photos submitted as evidence seemed to show that Mr. Kennedy’s residence was not legitimate.
“Given the size and appearance of the spare bedroom depicted in the photographs introduced into evidence, the Court finds that testimony that Mr. Kennedy might return to that bedroom to live with his wife, family, multiple pets, and all of his personal belongings is highly unlikely or even absurd,” the judge wrote.
She added that Kennedy has a “longstanding pattern” of using friends’ addresses and other locations to maintain his New York state voter registration while actually residing in California.
“Using a friend’s address for political activities and voting purposes while rarely setting foot on the premises does not constitute a right of residence under the Election Law,” Judge Leiba wrote. “To hold otherwise would set a dangerous precedent and open the door to the very fraud and political misdeeds that the Election Law’s right of residence provisions were intended to prevent.”
Kennedy’s address is a room in a friend’s house in Katonah, New York, about 40 miles from Manhattan, and he said in court that he had only slept there once since moving in because of his busy schedule on the presidential campaign trail. The Associated Press reported.
According to the Associated Press, the home’s owner, Barbara Moss, testified that Kennedy paid $500 a month in rent. But she also said Kennedy’s first rent payment was New York Post article He questioned Kennedy’s residency claim.
The Kennedy campaign denounced the verdict and vowed to appeal, and Kennedy himself blamed the Democratic Party for the decision.
“Democrats have a contempt for democracy,” Kennedy said. statement“They’re not confident they can win the vote, so they’re trying to deny voters a choice. We’ll appeal and we’ll win.”
“This lawsuit is an attack on the New York voters who signed up in record numbers to vote for me,” he continued. “The DNC has become the party that substitutes loafers for the democratic election process.”
If the lawsuit is successful, it could spark similar lawsuits across the country, as Kennedy used a New York address to file for office in several states.
Kennedy claims he will have the voting power of 46 states and 329 electoral votes, but only 15 states allow him to vote, and he is already guaranteed to run in key battleground states such as Michigan, North Carolina and Nevada.
His access in North Carolina is Supported on MondayThe state’s Democratic Party lost an appeal challenging his qualifications.
