Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made a lot of controversial claims, but this might be the most perplexing yet.
On Tuesday, the 72-year-old claimed he is currently unable to vote “anywhere in the United States”—despite holding one of the most senior offices in American government—because he has “no legal residence,” or is, for all intents and purposes, homeless. RFK Jr. made the comments during a press conference with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner about homelessness in Los Angeles.
“I am in a very strange position because when I ran for president the Democratic Party sued me first, to get me off the ballot in 12 states, including New York and California, and then when I endorsed President Trump, they sued me to keep me on the ballot in those same states,” Kennedy explained. “In the course of one of those lawsuits, it was declared I had no legal residence.”
“And, so I am in a dilemma where I literally have no state where I can legally vote right now,” he continued. “I am probably the only person in the country who is a legal citizen who has that dilemma but I am still trying to figure it out before the next election.”
The issue goes back to 2024, when Kennedy ran for president as an independent and claimed he was living in New York state, where he had previously been a homeowner. (Kennedy moved to California in 2014.)
At the time, Kennedy claimed his residence was a room he was renting at a friend’s home in Katonah, New York, however, there was no lease, according to People.
Judge Christina Ryba ruled given the small size of the spare bedroom that it was “highly improbable, if not preposterous” that Kennedy would return there to “reside with his wife, family members, multiple pets, and all of his personal belongings” and, as a result, failed to meet New York state’s legal requirement to be added to the ballot, the BBC reported. That led to his removal from the ballot in all 12 states where he claimed Katonah as his official residence.
In the United States, you don’t need a home to vote. If you’re eligible to vote, you can still cast your ballot in elections, regardless of whether they are homeless, either because they are without “a permanent address… move around often or are between homes,” according to official U.S. government website, vote.gov.