RFK Jr. has necessary signatures to get on NC ballot, campaign says

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has collected more than enough signatures to be on North Carolina's November ballot, his campaign said Monday.

Kennedy's We The People Party must collect 13,865 valid signatures before May 17 to be on the ballot under North Carolina election law. The campaign said it has collected more than 23,000 signatures, giving them a buffer in case some of the signatures are not counted.

The signatures have to be validated by elections officials before they become official. If validated, North Carolina would be the largest state that Kennedy has gained access. Kennedy is already on the ballot in Utah and has collected the needed signatures in New Hampshire, Nevada and Hawaii.

An individual candidate must collect more than 83,000 signatures to be on the ballot in North Carolina. But a party has a much lower threshold — 0.25% of the total number of voters who voted in the most recent general election for governor, which would be 13,865 — to place a nominee on state ballots. All the signatures must be from registered voters and at least 200 must come from at least three separate congressional districts in the state.

"Once the party has ballot access, they will nominate Mr. Kennedy as their candidate and he will officially be on the ballot in North Carolina," Stefanie Spear, Kennedy's campaign press secretary, told WRAL in an email in February.

Signatures are submitted to the county in which they were obtained for verification. They are then submitted to the State Board of Elections. As of Monday afternoon, the party had 20 valid signatures, according to the state board's website.

Nominees from the Green Party, No Labels Party and Constitution Party are expected to be on the November ballot as well.

Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a Republican, are the presumptive nominees of their parties. Trump leads Biden in the state in a two-way match-up, according to a recent WRAL News Poll. But the poll found 55% of voters in North Carolina wish they had different options in the presidential race. Unaffiliated voters make up the state's largest voting bloc.

Trump carried the state in each of his two previous presidential runs. He defeated Biden by 1.34% of the vote in 2020, or less than 75,000 votes. Neither candidate got 50% of the vote with various third-party candidates and write-in candidates collecting nearly 2%.

Two recent polls that did include other candidates found Kennedy at 8% and 11%. Trump led in those polls, too.

It is unclear whether Kennedy will take attract more votes from Biden or Trump supporters or if he will bring different voters to the polls. Kennedy is a member of one of the most prominent Democratic families in history and a former environmental lawyer, but he's also a vaccine skeptic who opposes military assistance for Ukraine — positions more aligned with many conservatives.

Kennedy named lawyer and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan as his running mate last week.