Ballot Access News: Kennedy on Reform Party Ballot in Florida

By Leah Watson, The Kennedy Beacon

On May 24, the Kennedy campaign announced that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had been nominated by the Reform Party, which will have ballot access in Florida. 

The Reform Party was founded in 1996 by the supporters of Ross Perot, who had run an independent presidential campaign in 1992, winning 19% of the popular vote. Perot became the nominee of the new party in 1996 for his second presidential run.

In 2023, the Reform Party lost its ballot access in Florida because it failed to comply with an audit. It applied to have its status reinstated, per the party's Florida chair, but there is no indication that has happened. Until it does, Kennedy is not on the Florida ballot. But getting nominated for the Reform Party ticket is an important step toward ballot access in a difficult state.

Prior to Kennedy’s campaign, Perot’s was the most successful independent campaign in US history.

Although on the ballot in all 50 states, Perot didn’t win any electoral votes. His less-than-expected showing may have been due to the fact that in 1992 Perot briefly exited the presidential race when his family was threatened. By the time he re-entered the race, his campaign had lost its momentum. 

Jesse Ventura, whom Kennedy considered as a running mate, won the Minnesota gubernatorial race as a Reform Party candidate in 1998.

As stated on the Reform Party’s website, the party holds its nominees to a high ethical standard and believes that “an office-holder’s influence should be solely for the benefit of their constituents and in service to their oath to the US Constitution.”

In a press release issued on May 23, Richard Kasa, Reform Party Convention Secretary, said he is sure that Kennedy will be the next President of the United States.

According to the Kennedy campaign, the Kennedy/Shanahan ticket is officially on the ballot in seven states, and has enough signatures collected to qualify in an additional eight states. That makes 15 states total, nearly one-third of the campaign’s goal to be on the ballot in every state.

Kennedy is now officially on the ballot in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and New Jersey and he has collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio and New Jersey.

Kennedy and his team remain confident that he will meet the requirements to be on the ballot in all fifty states and DC.