The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Monday to remove former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from state ballots ahead of the general election.
The 4-3 ruling upholds an appeals court ruling Friday that said Kennedy’s name should be taken off the ballot. A lower court had previously denied Kennedy’s effort to be removed. It also means ballots will need to be reprinted.
“We acknowledge that expediting the process of printing new ballots will require considerable time and effort by our election officials and significant expense to the State,” Justice Trey Allen wrote in Monday's majority opinion. “But that is a price the North Carolina Constitution expects us to incur to protect voters’ fundamental right to vote their conscience and have that vote count.”
Justices Anita Earls, Richard Dietz and Allison Riggs dissented.
An attorney for Kennedy did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.
The decision is a victory for Kennedy, who was dealt a blow earlier in the day when Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled that he must remain on the battleground state’s ballot after he dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed former President Donald Trump. Kennedy, who previously fought to get his name on as many state ballots as possible, has sought to get his name removed as polling indicates he could hurt Trump's chances in November if he remains on the ballot.
NBC News has reported that the legal battle over Kennedy's appearance on the North Carolina ballot has affected the timing of ballots being sent out, after the state's election board told officials not to begin mailing ballots on Sept. 6 as initially scheduled.
When reached for comment about about a new timeline for ballots, a spokesperson for the North Carolina State Board of Elections pointed NBC News to an email that went out to 100 county boards of elections after Monday night's ruling.
Karen Brinson Bell, the state election board's executive director, urged elections officials in the email not to "mail any ballots until a date is determined for all counties to do so."
She also noted that the board had "begun discussions" with the Defense Department over a potential waiver of a Sept. 21 deadline if the reprints aren't ready in all counties by the 45-day deadline established by federal law for military and overseas ballots.
Brinson Bell added that 27 counties had already started printing ballots when Kennedy announced on Aug. 23 that he would drop out of the presidential race, and that by the time his campaign reached the board about the withdrawal process on Aug. 26, over half of the state’s counties had started printing their ballots.
Monday's ruling cited the state constitution’s Free Elections Clause, which includes protections for the right to vote and for those votes to be counted accurately, in rejecting an effort to block the enforcement of the appeals court’s order to remove Kennedy from the ballot. The majority contended that if Kennedy’s name “appears on the ballot, it could disenfranchise countless voters who mistakenly believe that plaintiff remains a candidate for office.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.
