A lawsuit filed Thursday seeks to have independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed from the Pennsylvania ballot for the Nov. 5 election alleging fraud and other problems with his nominating papers.

The suit in Commonwealth Court filed on behalf of two voters from Dauphin County and Philadelphia claims the nominating papers Kennedy and running mate Nicole Shanahan filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State for placement on the ballot “demonstrate, at best, a fundamental disregard of the circulation process and Pennsylvania law.”

Kennedy, the son of U.S. attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, is running as the nominee of the We the People Party. His campaign claims that unlike other independent candidates, Kennedy and Shanahan will appear on the ballots of all 50 states. 

The Pennsylvania suit claims, however, that Kennedy’s nominating petitions list a New York address that is not his home. Kennedy has made his primary residence in California since marrying his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, in 2014, the suit claims.

A trial in New York state court over Kennedy’s legal residence concluded Thursday and a judge is expected to soon decide whether Kennedy’s name should remain on the ballot there. A Democratic super PAC is backing the lawsuit. 

The New York suit makes a similar claim that although Kennedy’s New York nominating petitions bear an address in the New York City suburbs, his actual residence is in California.

Kennedy’s campaign said in a statement Thursday that his voter registration, falconry license, and law practice are all in New York, where he also pays taxes. Kennedy said he plans to move back to New York when “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Hines retires from acting.

The residency issue presents an insurmountable problem for the Kennedy campaign because vice presidential nominee Shanahan also lives in California. The U.S. Constitution bars a state’s presidential electors from casting their votes for presidential and vice presidential candidates if both are from that state, meaning Kennedy could not receive California’s Electoral College votes.

“For these reasons, Candidate Kennedy listed his New York address with the intent to deceive Pennsylvania voters. Providing a California address would contradict his campaign and its goals,” the lawsuit claims, adding that because he allegedly acted with the intent to deceive voters, he is not entitled to amend the documents.

The suit also claims that Kennedy’s nomination papers fall short of the 33,043 signatures required by the Pennsylvania Election Code for non-major party candidates. 

Although federal courts have held that the requirement can be unconstitutional, and the secretary of the commonwealth will accept nomination petitions containing 5,000 signatures, Kennedy has not established that the requirement of a greater number of signatures is unconstitutional in his case, the suit says.

The original nominating petitions filed with the Department of State also show evidence of fraud, the suit alleges.

It says an inspection of the papers revealed “a startling concern.” Nearly 300 of the sheets submitted have a different circulator statement that is taped over the original document. Because the new statement cannot be removed without damaging the paper, this prevents examination of the original statement.

The suit also lists other defects with the documents including torn pages, “handwriting patterns and corrections” that suggest the voters whose names appear did not sign the petition, and that, based on the campaign’s practices in other states, some circulators whose names appear on the petitions were not the people who solicited voters’ signatures.

The suit was filed by attorney Timothy Ford of the Dilworth Paxson law firm in Philadelphia.

The Kennedy campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment from the Capital-Star on Thursday. 

Tropical Storm Debby has been lingering over Georgia and the Carolinas all week, but it’s still affecting the weather much further north.

Parts of central Pennsylvania are under a flood watch, with rain and thunderstorms expected on and off Thursday and all day Friday.

AccuWeather models predict most of Pennsylvania will receive between 4 and 8 inches of rain by 8 p.m. Friday.

Debby has already affected the weather here: AccuWeather meteorologists explained this week that storms in the Harrisburg area on Tuesday were, in part, exacerbated by tropical air from Debby pushing into the region, adding moisture to the air.

Live radar over Pennsylvania:

Heavy rain from the slow-moving storm is coming next, and that could lead to floods in parts of central Pennsylvania, the National Weather Service warns.

• More: Statewide weather alerts

A flood watch is in effect from Thursday night through Friday night for a large part of Pennsylvania, including Cumberland, Franklin and Perry counties. It notes that heavy rain and runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying and flood-prone locations.

Waterways including the Swatara, Conodoguinet and Yellow Breeches creeks and the Susquehanna River could see minor flooding. People in typically flood-prone and low-lying areas should watch for high water.

On Thursday, the Harrisburg area will see mostly cloudy skies and rain on and off, the National Weather Service in State College says. Thunderstorms are likely after noon. The Weather Channel says steady rain will move in after 5 p.m. Thursday and stay until Friday night.

There’s a 100% chance of rain Friday, the weather service says, and it’ll be breezy and warm, with a high temperature around 81. Most of central Pennsylvania is expected to get 2 to 4 inches of rain Friday, but some areas could see as much as 6 to 8 inches, forecasters say.

According to Accuweather, Debby is expected to track inland over North Carolina on Thursday, then curve along the Appalachians through the Northeast from Friday to Saturday. How much rain each state, from Virginia to New England, gets depends on how fast or slow Debby moves.

• More: Tropical Storm Debby tornado threat increases for N.J.

Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It is now a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph. It has spawned tornados and excessive flooding in the South all week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.