Petition workers for the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. independent presidential campaign appear to be misleading voters in New York City regarding the nature of their signature-gathering efforts. Several New York City residents say they’ve been approached by petitioners who claim to be gathering signatures for getting “independent candidates,” “progressive candidates,” or even “Joe Biden” on the state’s ballot. In actuality, these individuals are working on behalf of Kennedy and not any other candidates.
In one instance, traffic court judge Amy Bernstein was approached by a signature gatherer who had hidden Kennedy‘s name by folding it under the top of the clipboard. He told the judge he was gathering signatures for “independent candidates” to have ballot access. According to Bernstein, the only names visible on the petition were Kennedy‘s slate of electors — whose names would not be recognizable by most individuals.
New York State requires candidates to gather 45,000 signatures for presidential ballot access; the Kennedy campaign says they want to hit at least 100,000 signatures. Submitting signed petitions far above the legal requirement isn’t unusual. However, a large number of signatures are often invalidated, primarily because they are illegible.
Some Kennedy petition gatherers who’ve engaged in deceptive tactics admit they’re being paid by the campaign — or at least a campaign vendor. This suggests a supervisor is instructing them to hide Kennedy‘s name on the petitions, ostensibly to maximize the likelihood that a New York City resident would sign the form.
However, the Kennedy campaign denies having instructed the petitioners to engage in such deceptive tactics. Campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy — the candidate’s daughter-in-law and former CIA employee — told the New York Times that such deception is “utterly at odds with all of our intensive training and materials.”
