This story was originally produced by The Keene Sentinel. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his independent campaign for the White House on Aug. 23, will not appear on the Nov. 5 presidential election ballot in New Hampshire, Secretary of State David Scanlan said Thursday.
Kennedy, who has endorsed Republican former President Donald Trump, has been trying, sometimes without success, to have his name removed from ballots in some states where he fears he could siphon critical votes from the former president.
“By staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats with whom I disagree on the most existential issues of censorship, war, and chronic disease,” he said when he suspended his campaign.
The University of New Hampshire on Aug. 21 released a presidential race poll of 2,140 likely voters showing support for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris at 50 percent in the state, with 43 percent for Trump, 4 percent for Kennedy, 2 percent undecided and about 1 percent for other candidates.
Election officials in the tightly contested states of Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin have said it’s too late to remove Kennedy’s name from their ballots.
Kennedy requested in an Aug. 26 letter to Scanlan that his name be removed from the New Hampshire ballot.
Independent candidates for president must have 3,000 voters — 1,500 from each of the state’s two congressional districts — sign nominating petitions that were due by Wednesday, Sept. 4.
Kennedy had submitted these petitions, but since he dropped out before this deadline, he was allowed to retrieve the nominating papers and keep his name off the ballot, Scanlan said.
Meanwhile, Scanlan said that when voters go to the polls for the Sept. 10 state primary, they will not see major procedural changes from past elections.
One small variation, he said, will be the increased use of electronic poll books to speed up the process. Some election workers will be confirming voter names electronically instead of looking them up on paper printouts, which will still be available as a backup.
The N.H. Legislature passed a bill this year that would require significant changes in voter registration procedures, but that measure won’t be in effect for the primary and Scanlan said he doesn’t anticipate that it will be in effect for the general election, either.
House Bill 1569 would require people registering to vote to produce documents such as a birth certificate or passport. If Gov. Chris Sununu signs it, the measure would go into effect 60 days later.
But the Republican-backed bill hasn’t made it to Sununu’s desk yet. It first needs to be signed by Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, but as of Thursday, he hadn’t done so, Scanlan said. Bradley has had the bill since July 10, but hasn’t acted on it or explained the delay.
Scanlan has said he anticipates that such requirements would be challenged in court and that it would take time to educate voters and train election officials about the change.
