RFK Jr. won't be able to remove himself from ballots in Michigan and Wisconsin

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be unable to remove himself from the ballots in the key swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin, election officials confirmed Tuesday, days after he ended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump.

Kennedy is on the ballot in Michigan as a candidate for the Natural Law Party, which nominated him at its convention this year. Cheri Hardmon, a spokesperson for the Michigan secretary of state's office, confirmed that "minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election."

In Wisconsin, the state election commission met Tuesday to certify ballot access for presidential and vice presidential candidates. Even though Kennedy asked to withdraw his nomination petition as an independent candidate, the commission voted to decline the request, according to an archived video of the proceedings published by WisconsinEye, a nonprofit public affairs network.

"The statute literally says, 'Any person who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline nomination. The name of that person shall appear upon the ballot except in case of death of the person,'" Ann Jacobs, the chair of the commission, told another commissioner struggling with the idea of keeping someone on the ballot who didn't want to move forward with his or her candidacy.

"You're giving me this touchy-feely: 'I feel like this shouldn't be the law.' The law in this case is crystal clear," she added. "I don't disagree with you — it's weird, but I don't see we have any discretion here."

In Nevada, however, a court ordered on Tuesday that Kennedy would not appear on the ballot in the fall. The ruling came as part of a lawsuit Kennedy filed while he was still an active candidate attempting to secure a spot on the ballot. But the court order shows the two sides agreed to drop the case.

In his speech Friday dropping out of the race and backing Trump, Kennedy said he would work to remove his name from ballots in states where he could play a spoiler role.

"In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I'm going to remove my name, and I've already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me," Kennedy said.

"Our polling consistently showed by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues," he added.

But Kennedy added that he wouldn't remove his name from ballots in "red" or "blue" states in the hope of giving his supporters a chance to vote for him without affecting the results of the election. Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, for instance, announced Monday that Kennedy would be placed on the ballot in the solidly Republican state.

It's unlikely Kennedy will draw significant numbers of votes in states where he remains on the ballot, as he's no longer actively campaigning and is supporting a different candidate. But his decision to drop out had been seen as a marginal boost to Trump, as he had been more likely to pull from voters who would choose Trump in a head-to-head matchup with Vice President Kamala Harris