Elections
Battleground States Refuse to Remove RFK From Ballots, Hoping to Take Votes from Trump
In a brute attempt to take votes away from presidential candidate Donald Trump, states are refusing to remove former candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s name from their ballots in November.
At least three top battleground states are giving pushback despite the independent ex-presidential candidate suspending his campaign last week. He then endorsed former President Donald Trump.
When Kennedy announced his exit from the race Friday, he said he would “remove” his name from the ballots in about 10 battleground states where he could potentially be a “spoiler” and take votes away from Trump.
But Kennedy’s attempts to withdraw his candidacy in some states came either after ballots were already approved in these states, the deadline to withdrawal had passed or withdrawing wasn’t even an option.
USA Today reports his name will appear on the ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan, the Wisconsin Elections Commission and Michigan Secretary of State’s office confirmed. And in North Carolina, another key swing state, absentee ballots with Kennedy’s name on it have already been printed before they’re mailed to voters beginning next week on Sept. 6.
A spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections told CBS News that the We The People Party, which formally nominated Kennedy, has not informed the state of any plans to change its nomination.
Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina are all closely contested battleground states where Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are polling within the margins of error of each other.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted Tuesday to approve its ballot for the November election with Kennedy on the ballot as well as other third-party candidates liberal academic Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Kennedy will also remain on Minnesota ballot, among others.
USA Today reports:
Kennedy’s request to withdraw his name from the Wisconsin ballot was rejected because the state’s law says anyone who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot cannot decline nomination. That person, in this case Kennedy, will appear on the ballot “except in case of death of the person,” the law says.
Kennedy’s name will also remain on the ballot in Minnesota, a historically Democratic state that the Trump campaign has worked to turn red, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office told USA TODAY.
Kennedy’s name, meanwhile, will not appear on the ballots in four other top battlegrounds states: Pennsylvania Georgia, Nevada and Arizona. In these states, Kennedy was either successfully able to withdraw before the deadline or his candidacy had not yet been approved.
In Georgia, a judge recently ruled Kennedy did not qualify for the state’s ballot because of questions about his residency − a decision similar to one in New York, where a judge blocked Kennedy from the ballot for provided a false residence.
Others states where Kennedy successfully withdrew his candidacy and won’t appear on the ballot include Ohio, Texas and Florida. When he suspended his campaign, Kennedy signaled his intent to remain on ballots in states that are not expected to be closely contested between Trump and Harris to give his supporters in these places an opportunity to still vote for him.
Elections
Canada Beefs up Border Security After Trump Threatened Sweeping Tariffs
In November, president-elect Donald Trump announced on social media that he would impose a 25% tariff on all products from Canada and Mexico if they do not take an active role in containing illegal immigration as well as the level of illicit drugs entering into the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, after which the Canadian government vowed to secure the border. “We got, I think, a mutual understanding of what they’re concerned about in terms of border security,” Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc, who accompanied Trudeau at Mar-a-Largo, said of the meeting in an interview with Canadian media. “All of their concerns are shared by Canadians and by the government of Canada.”
“We talked about the security posture currently at the border that we believe to be effective, and we also discussed additional measures and visible measures that we’re going to put in place over the coming weeks,” LeBlanc continued. “And we also established, Rosemary, a personal series of rapport that I think will continue to allow us to make that case.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation reports the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is preparing to beef up its immigration enforcement capabilities by hiring more staff, adding more vehicles and creating more processing facilities, in the chance that there is an immigration surge sparked by Trump’s presidential election victory. The moves are a change in direction from Trudeau’s public declaration in January 2017 that Canada was a “welcoming” country and that “diversity is our strength” just days after Trump was sworn into office the first time.
The Daily Caller notes the differences in response from the Canadian government verses Mexico’s:
Trudeau’s recent overtures largely differ from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has indicated she is not willing to bend the knee to Trump’s tariff threats. The Mexican leader in November said “there will be a response in kind” to any tariff levied on Mexican goods going into the U.S., and she appeared to deny the president-elect’s claims that she agreed to do more to beef up border security in a recent phone call.
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