Last Friday, the N.C. Court of Appeals ordered election officials to remove former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from all state ballots after he ended his candidacy Aug. 23.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections had previously refused Kennedy’s request to be removed from the 2024 general election ballot Aug. 29, arguing that reprinting ballots would be “impractical” after several had already been sent to counties for distribution. Kennedy responded the next day by suing the NCSBE for having “irreparably harmed him.”
The Court of Appeals did not explain its decision, which overturned a ruling from a Wake County Superior Court judge the previous day that found any harm done to Kennedy by not reprinting the ballots would be “minimal” relative to the harm inflicted on the state.
The NCSBE appealed the Court of Appeals’ order from that morning, restating their claim that to reprint all ballots would incur high costs to the state and delay the start of early voting for constituents.
As the N.C. Supreme Court considers the appeal, NCSBE staff will work to code new ballots without Kennedy’s name and provide proofs for review for the 2,348 different ballot styles statewide. At the time of the Court of Appeals’ ruling, more than 2.9 million ballots had already been printed.
This decision will delay early mail-in voting in North Carolina for days or even weeks — well past the deadline of Sept. 6 set by state law. State officials have also said that Kennedy’s removal from the ballot will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
NCSBE Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell has urged counties to ensure that ballots go out no later than Sept. 21, the federal deadline for sending absentee ballots. However, voting system and ballot printing vendors estimate it may take an additional 12 to 13 days to reprint ballots, in which case the state may request to waive the federal deadline.
By Friday afternoon, over 136,300 voters in North Carolina had requested absentee ballots, including around 12,700 military and overseas voters.
Although Kennedy is fighting to remove his name from ballots in Michigan and North Carolina, he is working to do the opposite in New York and Mississippi.
State election officials have questioned Kennedy’s official claim that remaining on the N.C. ballot would harm him, arguing to the Supreme Court that he “fails to explain why remaining on the ballot in North Carolina is inherently harmful, but appearing on the ballot in New York and Mississippi poses no such harm.”
Kennedy endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump shortly after ending his candidacy. He later stated his intention to remove his name from ballots in battleground states “where [his] presence would be a spoiler” and “likely hand the election over to the Democrats.”
Voters who previously requested a mail-in ballot are not required to re-request a ballot, though North Carolinians who need to change their delivery address due to the delay should complete a new request form.
The absentee ballot request deadline is 5 p.m. on Oct. 29. Completed ballots must be received by the county board of elections no later than 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Michelle Voicu is a Trinity sophomore and an associate news editor for the news department.