North Carolina court orders RFK Jr.'s name to be removed just before ballots are sent
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- 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 first absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 election were supposed to be mailed out Friday, but the court ruling forced election workers to delay so they could make new ballots without RFK Jr. as an option.
"They're going to have to reprint new ballots in all 100 counties and then move forward," said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University.
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 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 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.
"There is still the possibility that this will be appealed to the North Carolina State Supreme Court," Cooper said. "And there is a possibility that the North Carolina State Supreme Court will actually side with the state board of Elections site against RFK Jr. And say, no, you could use those ballots."
Later Friday, that's exactly what happened.
The State Board of Elections announced it has appealed Friday's order. The appeal was filed with the NC Supreme Court Friday afternoon.
As the Supreme Court considers the appeal, State Board staffers will work through the weekend to begin coding new ballots without Kennedy's name and providing proofs of the new ballots to county boards of elections for review, the NCBOE said.
There are 2,348 different ballot styles statewide for the 2024 general election. More than 2.9 million ballots had already been printed before the order by the Court of Appeals, the NCBOE said.
The NCBOE asked the Supreme Court for an expedited decision so counties will not have to spend additional money preparing and printing new ballots if the State Board is successful in its appeal.
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 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.
"I think it is not going to change a huge number of votes, but it doesn't take a huge number of votes to change the outcome of the election in the state of North Carolina," Cooper said. "This is a state decided at the margins, and this is the kind of decision that could matter at the margins."
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.
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One voter agreed it would be a major undertaking for counties to reprint the ballots without Kennedy's name as an option, but Shawn Hiatt told ABC11 that it doesn't affect the way he votes.
"I feel like if the candidate is not a valid candidate in the election, then he could be taking votes away from people that are valid candidates," Hiatt said. "So it's quite a conundrum because I don't want the state to pay for it, but I also don't want the ballot to not be totally valid."
Another voter said she preferred ballots stay how they were.
"I don't want our state to pay a lot of money to take his name off, so I guess I'd rather it stay on," Helen Whiteside 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 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," Cox wrote.
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 is expected to be close.
Kennedy on Wednesday sued in Wisconsin to get his name removed from the presidential ballot there after the state elections commission voted to keep him on it. Kennedy also filed a lawsuit in Michigan. A judge ruled Tuesday that he must remain on the ballot there but on Friday, that decision was reversed..
This email from the NCSBE was sent to all county boards Friday, saying:
"The Court of Appeals just issued an order reversing the denial of the restraining order that was requested by Kennedy. It is attached. The court has ordered a further pause to ballot distribution. Do not send any ballots out today.
The court has also ordered that the We The People party's ballot line be removed (including Kennedy and Shanahan). Obviously, this will be a major undertaking for everyone. Our attorneys are reviewing the order and determining how to move forward. No decision has been made on whether this ruling will be appealed.
Bottom line: continue to hold your outgoing absentee ballots-both military and overseas citizen ballots, and ballots for civilian voters. We will update you immediately with any further developments."
"The logistical impact is obviously, if you requested a mail ballot, you're not going to be getting it any time in the next few days," Cooper said. "The political impact is a little harder to see. The presumption is this is a little bit of a win for Donald Trump, but I don't think there's any certainty that that's exactly how it's going to play out."
There was good news, Cooper noted.
"We were scheduled to send our ballots out first in the nation ... so for folks who have already requested ballots in the state of North Carolina, you just have to wait until it's delivered," Cooper said. "It'll probably be a few weeks from now. Plenty of time before the election still."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
