North Carolina Supreme Court Orders RFK Jr. Removed From Ballot

North Carolina’s top court on Sept. 9 narrowly voted to order state officials to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from ballots, deciding that leaving the former presidential candidate as an option could disenfranchise voters.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections asked justices to overturn a state appeals court ruling that ordered the reprinting of ballots without Kennedy’s name.

The majority said that there would be a cost to reprinting the ballots but that leaving the name of Kennedy, who withdrew as a candidate, would harm voters’ rights.

“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 for the majority. “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.”

Kennedy suspended his independent presidential campaign on Aug. 23. Karen Brinson Bell, the state elections director, said that on Aug. 23 she was aware of the suspension and that Kennedy planned to remove his name from ballots in battleground states.


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