RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina appeals court on Friday ruled that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name must be taken off state ballots for president, upending plans in the battleground state just as officials were about to begin mailing out the nation’s first absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The intermediate-level Court of Appeals issued an order granting Kennedy’s request to halt the mailing of ballots that included his name. The court — a three-judge panel ruling unanimously — also told a trial judge to order the State Board of Elections to distribute ballots without Kennedy’s name on them. No legal explanation was given.
State law otherwise required the first absentee ballots to be mailed or transmitted to those already asking for them no later than 60 days before the general election, making Friday the deadline. The process of reprinting and assembling ballot packages likely would take more than two weeks, state attorneys have said. The ruling could be appealed.
Kennedy, the nominee of the We The People party in North Carolina, had sued last week to get off the state’s ballots after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump. But the Democratic majority on the State Board of Elections rejected the request, saying it was too late in the process of printing ballots and coding tabulation machines. Kennedy then sued.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Holt on Thursday denied Kennedy’s effort to keep his name off ballots, prompting his appeal. In the meantime, Holt had told election officials to hold back sending absentee ballots until noon Friday.
A favorable outcome for Kennedy could assist Trump’s efforts to win the presidential battleground of North Carolina. Trump won the state’s electoral votes by just 1.3 percentage points over Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
More than 132,500 people — military and overseas workers and in-state civilian residents — have requested North Carolina absentee ballots so far, the State Board of Elections said.
In an email, state board attorney Paul Cox told election directors in all 100 counties after Friday’s ruling to hold on to the current ballots but not send them. More than 2.9 million absentee and in-person ballots with Kennedy’s name on them have been printed so far.
No decision has been made on appealing Friday’s decision, Cox wrote, and removing Kennedy and running mate Nicole Shanahan from the ballot would be “a major undertaking for everyone.”
It had taken several weeks for elections workers to assemble the mailed packages to voters, including the printing of ballots, return envelopes and instructions. Ballots were just finalized a couple of weeks ago. There are over 2,300 ballot styles across the state — depending on the races — and tabulators must be coded to align with where candidates land on the ballot.
With Friday’s deadline not met, North Carolina election officials still are faced with meeting a federal law requiring absentee ballots go to military and overseas voters by Sept. 21. They may try to seek a waiver if new ballots can’t be produced in time.
Since Kennedy suspended his campaign, the environmentalist and author has tried to get his name removed from ballots in several states where the race between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are expected to be close.
In Michigan, its intermediate-level Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Kennedy should be removed from the ballot, reversing a decision made earlier this week by a lower court judge.
Kennedy had sued Democratic Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Aug. 30 to get off the ballot.
The opinion said that while Kennedy’s request was made close to the deadline to give notice to local election officials, it wasn’t so unreasonable as to deny relief to him. Benson’s office will appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court, a spokesperson said.
In separate statements, a Kennedy attorney praised the North Carolina and Michigan rulings, saying they uphold state elections laws and support ballot integrity by ensuring no one must vote for a candidate no longer running in their state.
Kennedy on Wednesday also sued in Wisconsin to get his name removed from the presidential ballot there after the state elections commission voted to keep him on it.
Friday’s ruling in North Carolina didn’t include the names of judges who considered Kennedy’s request — the court releases the names after 90 days. The court has 15 judges — 11 registered Republicans and four Democrats. Names usually have been withheld from such orders to discourage “judge shopping,” or purposefully seeking out a judge who’s likely to rule in your favor, the court has said.
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Associated Press writer Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.