Friday, September 13

Former third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy fights to get his name removed from ballots after suspending his campaign and endorsing former President Donald Trump — and election workers are bearing the brunt. Trump is once again felled by his refusal to accept his 2020 election loss. And, the backlash against Georgia’s new election rules continues with a new Republican-led lawsuit.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. scrambles to remove himself from ballots

It wasn’t long ago that former third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was fighting for his placement on ballots across the nation. Now, he’s fighting to get off ballots in multiple states after withdrawing from the race and endorsing former President Donald Trump.

Kennedy suspended his campaign on Aug. 23 and proceeded to ask at least three states to remove his name from the ballot in order to not pull support from Trump. But given that counties have already begun preparing for early voting, Kennedy now finds himself in legal battles in Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin over removing his name from already-printed ballots.

While he’s been mostly unsuccessful thus far, North Carolina’s highest court handed him a win. The state Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that ordered the state Board of Elections to reprint new ballots without Kennedy’s name on them.

The state election board fought Kennedy’s request, due to the time and resources it will take to reprint ballots. Because of the high court’s order, the board said it’s “preparing for the possibility that North Carolina cannot meet the 45-day deadline in federal law — Sept. 21 — for distributing military and overseas ballots to voters.” Read more about the North Carolina case.

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‘I lost by a whisker’: Debate moderator presses Trump on 2020

Trump made many missteps during this week’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, but he especially floundered when asked about the results of 2020’s race, which Trump seemingly can’t help but dispute after losing to President Joe Biden.

The question stemmed from Trump’s comments on a podcast, in which he said he lost the 2020 race “by a whisker,” a rare, but not new, admission from the notorious election denier. “I was told that if I got 63 million, which is what I got the first time, you would win,” he said in part. “You can’t not win. And I got millions of more votes than that. And I lost by a whisker.”

On Tuesday, ABC News debate co-moderator David Muir asked Trump about those comments, noting that Trump for years has claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him. But, “in the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate, you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker, that you, quote, didn't quite make it, that you came up a little bit short,” Muir said.

Trump responded that he said that "sarcastically.” When pressed by Muir, though, he elaborated. “All you have to do is look at it and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval. I got almost 75 million votes, the most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told if I got 63, which is what I got in 2016, you can’t be beaten.”

Muir also referenced a tweet from Marc Elias, who founded Democracy Docket in part because of the flurry of election cases during the 2020 election. Muir asked Harris about Trump’s threat to weaponize the criminal justice system against his political opponents.

Harris called out Trump’s election denialism at the debate, saying the country “cannot afford to have a president of the United States who attempts, as he did in the past, to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election.” Read about the federal indictment against Trump over his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.

Georgia’s certification battles continue ahead of November

The fallout from the Georgia State Election Board’s decision — spearheaded by the board’s three Republican members — to pass two new rules that could delay the certification process continues with a new lawsuit against the state.

Two Georgia Republicans and a nonprofit challenged multiple election rules passed by the State Election Board (SEB), including two controversial new rules passed just last month. The suit claims the board lacks the authority to implement the policies.

One of the rules states that officials can only certify an election after conducting a “reasonable inquiry” into the results; the other allows county election members to examine all election-related documents. Both rules were passed in August. The case comes after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Georgia Democratic Party filed a complaint in August against the election board over the rules.

Another certification issue seemed to get resolved this week in Michigan, where a Republican member of a county board of canvassers pledged to certify the results of the 2024 race after earlier suggesting he wouldn’t certify if the election was “stolen” from Trump.

Robert Froman walked back his comments in response to a lawsuit filed against him by the ACLU of Michigan and two voters, who argued that the board of county canvassers has a mandatory duty to certify election results under the Michigan Constitution and state election law.

In the lead-up to November’s election, uncertainty persists around whether election boards will perform their ministerial duties or seek to conduct their own investigations, an issue spurred by the election denialism of the 2020 (and 2022) elections. Read about what happens if election officials refuse to certify results.

OPINION: The GOP’s Sisyphean Punishment for Supporting Trump

What We’re Doing

The team at Democracy Docket continues to track anti-voting lawsuits that could potentially disenfranchise voters. “Thus far in the 2023-2024 election cycle, the Republican Party and its affiliates have filed, or are involved in, 72 voting rights lawsuits,” according to new analysis from staff writer Matt Cohen. That 72 number accounts for a majority of the 99 anti-voting lawsuits filed this election cycle. Read Cohen’s breakdown of the data here.

NEW EPISODE: The GOP’s Three-Part Plan to Subvert Elections

Republicans have been laying the groundwork to subvert elections this fall. It’s all a part of their three-part strategy to undermine free and fair elections and seize power for themselves. Marc Elias and Paige Moskowitz break it down.