The Libertarian Party of Colorado’s plans to place independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the state’s ballot hit a snag this week when a national party official filed paperwork instead designating the Libertarians’ presidential nominee, Chase Oliver, to Colorado’s general election ballot.

The move has led to a standoff between the state and national Libertarian parties over which has the authority to put a presidential and vice presidential ticket in front of Colorado voters, with both sides accusing the other of going rogue and suggesting the dispute could land in court.

After voting a month ago to reject the ticket nominated by the national party, the state Libertarians’ board announced last week that it would nominate Kennedy after reaching what it described as a “groundbreaking partnership” with his campaign. Elements of the agreement included securing the candidate’s signature on a pledge to abide by a list of the party’s principles and an intention to collaborate on fundraising, the party said.

But before Colorado Libertarians could file documents making Kennedy and his running mate, California lawyer Nicole Shanahan, the party’s official nominees in the state, the national party’s secretary, Caryn Ann Harlos of Castle Rock, submitted forms nominating Oliver and his running mate, Michael ter Maat.

“A single party may not place multiple candidates for president and vice president onto the Colorado ballot,” said Jack Todd, a spokesman for the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, in an email to Colorado Politics. “The Department will accept complete paperwork from a branch of the Libertarian Party when it is submitted. Colorado law is silent on intra-party conflicts regarding candidate nominations.”

National Libertarians nominated Oliver, the party’s 2022 U.S. Senate nominee in Georgia, and ter Maat, a retired police officer from Virginia, at the party’s national convention in Washington. While the Colorado delegation cast its votes in the final round for “none of the above,” Oliver and ter Maat won in the seventh round, after earlier rejecting former President Donald Trump and Kennedy, who both addressed the convention and asked for the party’s nomination.

The state party said its refusal to endorse Oliver and ter Maat “reiterates our deep concern that the national ticket does not align with the values and strategies that the (Libertarian Party of Colorado) holds dear,” calling the pair “essentially useful idiots for the regime.” Among the disagreements cited by the Colorado party were Oliver’s adherence to public health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic and his support for non-surgical gender-affirming care for minors.

Kennedy, on the other hand, won over the state party, in part, by agreeing to a list of positions including eliminating the Department of Education, defunding U.S. intelligence agencies and support for the Second Amendment. Kennedy also pledged to pardon Edward Snowden, a computer consultant who defected to Russia after leaking highly classified U.S. intelligence, and Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence for creating an online marketplace used to trade illegal goods and services.

The agreement signed by Kennedy mirrors a pledge signed earlier this year by a handful of Republican congressional candidates as part of a deal worked out with the state GOP to keep Libertarians from “spoiling” competitive races.

Todd, the Colorado secretary of state’s spokesman, told Colorado Politics that in addition to the nomination forms submitted by Harlos, Oliver and ter Maat had also filed the required candidate acceptance forms. By late Wednesday, however, the national Libertarian Party hadn’t submitted the names of 10 presidential electors, so their paperwork was not yet considered complete, Todd said.

Colorado’s political parties have until Sept. 6 to turn in their nominees to the secretary of state, who is scheduled to certify the state’s general election ballots by Sept. 9.

Harlos, a longtime Libertarian activist at the state and national level, said she strongly disagreed with the Colorado board’s decision and was particularly irked by its endorsement of Kennedy, who initially ran as a Democrat before changing his affiliation to independent.

“If we want to ignore our principles and partner up with a statist who agrees with us on a couple of things, we might as well go whole hog and endorse Trump,” Harlos tweeted on Wednesday. “Of course not. Just because Kennedy is a disrupter does not make him a friend to our cause. Remember he wanted the Democrat nomination.”

Added Harlos: “‘Joint fundraising’ is selling the Party to be used by him. It is political prostitution.”

James Wiley, the state party’s executive director, told Colorado Politics that Harlos wasn’t authorized to file the documents.

“National has no business in Colorado,” Wiley said in a text message, adding that filing nominating paperwork has always been something the state party has handled.

The state party’s communications director, Jordan Marinovich, said in an email that state officers are the party’s registered agents in Colorado.

“There are legitimate questions and concerns whether Mrs. Harlos overstepped her authority, not only with her communications to the Colorado SOS, but as her role as LNC Secretary,” Marinovich said.

He added that the state party plans to submit paperwork nominating Kennedy and Shanahan “imminently,” later clarifying that it would likely be filed by the end of the week.

While the national Libertarian Party didn’t respond to a request for comment, national chair Angela McArdle took Harlos to task on Wednesday in an email released by the state party.

“You will not usurp my authority as chair,” McArdle told Harlos, adding that she believed Harlos has “put us at risk of legal action.”

Said McArdle: “I want to make it abundantly clear you had no authority to do so and I did not know about it. We are not getting pulled into a lawsuit on your behalf.”