On a recent day, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. inched towards making his political dreams come true as he presented a substantial 110,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office in Arizona. He has now moved a step closer to attaining a prime spot on the November 5th ballot in Arizona. Simultaneously, Cornel West, the third-party contender, scrambled to rectify a paperwork slip-up, barely twenty-four hours away from the weekend’s ballot deadline.
Both third-party aspirants handed over boxes replete with signature petitions to the Secretary of State’s Office in Arizona. Kennedy led the race with an estimation of approximately 110,000 signatures, as relayed by a campaign associate. Trailing close behind, West followed suit with 100,000 signatures.
Independently campaigning candidates are required to accumulate 42,303 signatures of registered Arizona voters to secure their place on the statewide Presidential ballot. Once their signatures are sanctioned, Trump, the Republican nominee, will welcome Kennedy and West, as they join him and Democratic nominee, Kamal Harris, on the Arizona ballot.
On the day Kennedy turned in his signatures, diligent election workers got down to the task of scanning them. Lisa Marra, the state Elections Director, disclosed this information. If the signatures pass the test, the results and approval will be made public latest by Tuesday or Wednesday of the coming week.
While third-party contenders generally have negligible chances to secure the Presidential seat, their influence in shaping the election results in Arizona could be quite extraordinary. Given the cut-throat nature of the Presidential race, which could be determined by an extremely slight margin, third-party candidates could sway the outcome by diverting votes from the prominent parties.
To remember is the close fight in the 2020 elections when President Joe Biden only managed to inch past Donald Trump by a mere 11,000 votes. The stakes are high, and third-party contenders could potentially turn tables.
West’s campaign came to a standstill when they came forward to present their signatures. Unfortunately, they overlooked some mandatory paperwork needed to secure a spot on the ballot. Among the missing elements were a presidential nomination form, a vice-presidential nomination form, and an acceptance letter, Marra pointed out.
The West team assured that the missing documents wouldn’t stay missing for too long. An assurance to deliver them well before the Saturday deadline was conveyed to Marra. Though West has struggled to gather funds for his campaign, he nonetheless managed to secure a place on the ballot in several states – Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and South Carolina.
After his Justice For All party was denied entry in North Carolina, a federal judge intervened, ordering the state to let him on the ballot. But the victories are short-lived. Shortly after, his campaign in Michigan was rebuffed owing to some incorrectly notarized paperwork.
Meanwhile, Kennedy outpaced West in terms of states conquered. The independent candidate finds his place on the ballot in more states like California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, and North Carolina, to name a few. Despite this, Kennedy is not close to having his name appear on the ballots in all 50 states.
Emphasizing the difficult process for third-party operations to make the ballot, Kennedy admitted, ‘We have been able to overcome impossible odds,’. He made this statement on a recent Zoom call with the press. Drawing attention to the laborious process faced by third-party contenders, he revealed that cracking the shell of the mainstream political race posed a significant challenge.
At times, third-party contenders, while struggling to break through the two-party structure, have the power to reshape the course of the overall election results. It will be interesting to watch how such independent candidates can garner enough support, especially in states where the race proves to have extremely tight margins.
While it’s true that achieving Presidential success as a third-party candidate is rare, their potential for shaping the overall outcome cannot be overlooked. Their ability to siphon off votes from mainstream candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties could completely redefine the final election results.
Thus, the political landscape of Arizona is set to witness vibrant shades of independent campaigns. A potential breakthrough could offset the career politicians’ traditional race and intensify the competition. It will be the state’s residents who have the power to decide the further course of this nail-biting political saga.
Looking ahead at the elections, the presence of strong independent candidates alongside stalwait candidates like Donald Trump could potentially rewrite the story of the Presidential race in the polarized state of Arizona. Any torpedoing of votes away from candidates Trump or Harris could noticeably unsettle the race equilibrium.
So, as the citizens await the final verdict on the signatures, and subsequently, the fate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, Arizona’s political stage is all set to witness a fervorous, eclectic collage of yet another Presidential election.