THE CAPITOL REPORT: RFK Jr. stays on the ballot

By WisPolitics.com For insiders it was a foregone conclusion that Robert F. Kennedy’s name would stay on the Wisconsin presidential ballot after the state Supreme Court rushed to take the case then slow-walked a decision as absentee ballots were being mailed.

When the decision came down late on the afternoon of Sept. 27, about the only surprise was that it was a unanimous decision from a high court that is often bitterly divided after going from conservative to liberal and with a big election in the spring of 2025 that will again decide philosophical control of the court.

The justices knocked Kennedy’s legal briefs as “inadequate” as he tried to persuade them that a Dane County judge had erroneously rejected Kennedy’s request for a temporary injunction barring the Elections Commission from placing him on the ballot.

Kennedy argued keeping him on the ballot would violate constitutional rights to equal protection, free expression and the freedom of association. But the court found his briefs failed “to develop those arguments to even a minimal standard sufficient for us to consider their merits.” That left no sufficient argument to persuade them that Dane County Judge Stephen Ehlke made a mistake.

The court’s decision came down the same day the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Kennedy’s bid to persuade those justices to place him on the ballot in New York.

At the heart of the case is a Wisconsin law that states anyone who files signatures to run for office and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline the nomination. Kennedy filed his nomination papers ahead of the Aug. 6 deadline, but then announced he was suspending his campaign in swing states and urging his supporters there to support Donald Trump. The Elections Commission voted 5-1 to place Kennedy on the ballot, citing the requirement in state law.

With ballots already in the hands of voters, Kennedy had urged the courts to direct local election officials to place stickers over his name. That option is allowed for candidates who die after they’re placed on the ballot, and the independent wanted that extended to his case after he dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.

The court’s ruling didn’t address Kennedy’s suggestion, which the state Department of Justice had labeled a “logistical nightmare.” The seven-page ruling focused almost entirely on the background in the suit and Kennedy’s failure to provide sufficient arguments to support his constitutional claims.

The decision came more than a week after local election officials began sending absentee ballots to Wisconsin voters.

While conservative justices Rebecca Bradley and Annette Ziegler concurred with rejecting Kennedy’s challenge of Ehlke’s ruling, they lamented the compressed timeline that they said left little room to explore the constitutional issues the suit raises. Bradley wrote in a concurring opinion that the ramifications of the case “are immense.”

“Voters may cast their ballots in favor of a candidate who withdrew his candidacy, thereby losing their right to cast a meaningful vote,” Bradley wrote. “Ballots listing a non-candidate mislead voters and may skew a presidential election. In this case, the damage to voter participation in electoral democracy is real.”

Now insiders will be watching how Kennedy and other lesser-known names on the presidential ballot will affect the outcome of the race in the key swing state of Wisconsin. Republicans had generally supported Kennedy’s name being eliminated from the ballot while Dems had generally said it should stay. The conclusion there is that operatives think Kennedy will siphon more casual Trump supporters than casual Kamala Harris voters.

Kennedy’s support had been steadily dropping in polls anyway, but in a state like Wisconsin where statewide elections can be decided by some 20,000 voters, every vote counts.

The Capitol Report, produced by WisPolitics.com — a nonpartisan, Madison-based news service that specializes in coverage of government and politics — provides a weekly analysis of issues being debated in Wisconsin state government. It is underwritten by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and produced exclusively for its members. WisPolitics.com President Jeff Mayers is a former editor and reporter for the Associated Press and a former political writer for the Wisconsin State Journal.

For more, visit WisPolitics.com.