RFK Jr. submits 110K signatures to get on Arizona ballot; Cornel West hits paperwork snag

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday got one step closer to appearing on the Nov. 5 Arizona ballot, submitting 110,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Meanwhile, third-party hopeful Cornel West’s campaign is still working out a paperwork snag one day before a Saturday evening ballot deadline.

Both third-party candidates brought boxes of signature petitions to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. Kennedy turned in approximately 110,000 signatures, according to a campaign volunteer, while West turned in 100,000.

“It’s an honor,” said Paradise Valley resident Glenn Rink, a Kennedy volunteer and elector who delivered the signatures. “Bobby Kennedy is a very special human being. He believes in healing the divide from Republicans to Democrats.”

Independent campaigns must gather 42,303 signatures from registered Arizona voters to get on the statewide presidential ballot. If the West and Kennedy signatures are approved, they will join Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on the Arizona ballot.

Election workers began scanning Kennedy’s signatures on Friday afternoon, state Elections Director Lisa Marra said, and news about whether the signatures are approved will come as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.

“We have a team ready to work through the weekend until the task is complete,” said Aaron Thacker, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office.

Third-party candidates have virtually no chance of winning the presidential race themselves, but their impact on the election in Arizona could be significant. The presidential race is likely to be decided by a razor-thin margin — President Joe Biden beat Trump by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2020. For that reason, third-party candidates could tip the balance of the race by pulling votes away from the major parties.

The West campaign hit a roadblock when it came to drop off signatures on Friday morning because it did not bring all of the required paperwork to get on the ballot. The campaign was missing a presidential nomination form, a vice presidential nomination form and an acceptance letter, Marra said.

“They are not filed as of right now in Arizona,” Marra said. The West campaign told Marra it would bring the missing documents before a 5 p.m. deadline on Saturday, she said.

A West campaign aide arrived at the office building in Phoenix on Friday morning with 12 white cardboard boxes. The West aide declined to comment, and a West campaign spokesperson did not respond to several inquiries. The West campaign left the boxes in a storage room in the secretary of state’s office.

Later in the day, Rink, the Kennedy volunteer, brought six cardboard boxes full of signatures for review. Marra confirmed the campaign had all the required paperwork and gave Rink a conditional receipt for the signatures.

West, who has struggled to raise money for his bid, is on the ballot in several states, including Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and South Carolina. A federal judge recently ordered North Carolina to allow West on the ballot after his Justice For All party had been denied access in the state. On Friday, Michigan booted West off the ballot because his campaign filed some paperwork that was not properly notarized.

Kennedy is on the ballot in more states than West, including California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and North Carolina. Still, he is far from appearing on ballots in all 50 states. Kennedy said that getting on the ballot has been a significant challenge as a third-party operation.

“We have been able to overcome impossible odds,” Kennedy said last week during a Zoom call with reporters.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kennedy submits signatures for Arizona ballot; West missing paperwork