Wisconsin Ballot Access Law Unchanged After RFK Jr Ruling

Permission Denied

Independent candidates in Wisconsin are going to have to wait, maybe until after the 2026 election, to see if there really is a different standard when it comes to getting off the ballot.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court side-stepped that question Friday when the justices unanimously ruled against Robert F. Kennedy’s request to take his name off the November ballot.

"We emphasize that we are not making any legal determinations on our own regarding the claims made by Kennedy and we are not agreeing with the circuit court’s legal conclusions on those claims," the court wrote in its decision. 

"We simply are unable to make such determinations, given the inadequate briefing presented to us."

Kennedy argued, in broad terms, that Wisconsin law gives major party candidates more time to withdraw from the Wisconsin ballot.

Republican and Democratic candidates in Wisconsin have until September 3 to withdraw from the ballot. Independent candidates, like Kennedy, must decide to withdraw from a race no later than August 6.

The liberal-majority court said Kennedy’s legal filing in the case was “inadequate.” The Wisconsin Elections Commission ruled in late August that Kennedy both qualified for the November ballot, and could not remove his name.

WEC Chairwoman Ann Jacobs said the only way Kennedy could get off the ballot would be to die. That led to the court battles.

While Friday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court decision was unanimous, two of the court’s conservative justices criticized the liberal-majority in how it has handled election cases like Kennedy’s:

"Process matters. The members of the majority sometimes enforce a rule against 'premature petitions' but sometimes they don’t, without disclosing any standards by which they will choose whether to apply it. Such arbitrariness by courts is antithetical to the original understanding of the judicial role," Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote. 

"The majority's arbitrariness in following its professed procedure in one case while discarding it in another sends a message to litigants that judicial process will be invoked or ignored based on the majority’s desired outcome in a politically-charged case."

Rep. Steffen's Solution

Friday’s ruling came just a day after state Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, introduced legislation that he says would fix the problem for candidates who drop-out of races in Wisconsin.

“Not only does our current law fail to recognize the real-world circumstances that may impact a candidate’s decision to continue through Election Day, it also creates unnecessary confusion for voters. We need a clear pathway for candidates to prevent their name from appearing on the ballot,” Steffen said about his proposed RFK Jr. Act.

But the proposed law is far from a guarantee. While it’s likely that Republicans will continue to hold their majorities in the state legislature next year, Gov. Tony Evers has refused to sign anything from Republicans that clarifies Wisconsin’s election laws, or as he has put it “makes it harder to vote.”

That means Kennedy’s question about different ballot standards for independent candidates in Wisconsin will likely go unanswered until there is either a change at the Wisconsin Supreme Court, or a change in the governor's office.

Voters will choose a new supreme court justice next spring. They will choose a new governor in 2026.