North Carolina judge rejects RFK Jr’s legal bid to remove name from state ballots

Kennedy filed the lawsuit last Friday after the North Carolina Election Board ruled last week it was too late to remove his name from the ballot

A judge has denied Robert F Kennedy Jr’s legal bid to remove his name from presidential ballots in North Carolina – just months after he fought to get his name on them.

Kennedy filed the lawsuit last Friday after the North Carolina Election Board ruled last week it was too late to remove his name from the ballot as a third-party candidate in the battleground state.

Now, Wake County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Holt has ruled in favor of the election board as the first batches of the November absentee ballots are slated to be sent to registered voters who requested them.

Holt issued a pause for 24 hours before absentee ballots are sent out, allowing Kennedy’s legal team to appeal. His lawyer, Phil Strach, said they plan to take the case to the state Court of Appeals, NC newsline reports.

The independent candidate dropped out of the race on 23 August and backed Donald Trump (AP)

State law directs that the first absentee ballots for the 5 November elections be mailed to requesters from today.

The independent candidate dropped out of the race on 23 August and backed Donald Trump after polling showed Kennedy would “hand the election over to the Democrats” if he continued.

Kennedy got on the ballot in July as the nominee of the new We The People party created by his supporters. The elections board gave official recognition to the party after it collected enough voter signatures. But Kennedy suspended his campaign two weeks ago and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Since then, 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In North Carolina, Kennedy and We The People of North Carolina wrote to the board asking for his name be withdrawn. But on a party-line vote on 29 August the board's Democratic members denied the party's request, calling it impractical given the actions already completed to begin ballot distribution on 6 September. Kennedy sued the next day.

North Carolina is slated to be the first state in the nation to distribute fall election ballots. County elections offices were expected Friday to send absentee ballots to more than 125,000 in-state and military and overseas voters who asked for them.

And more than 2.9 million absentee and in-person ballots overall had already been printed statewide as of Wednesday, state elections executive director Karen Brinson Bell said in an affidavit.

RFK Jr. discusses Donald Trump tapping him to join his presidential transition team on a podcast (All-In Podcast / YouTube)

The process of reprinting ballots without Kennedy's name and reassembling ballot requests would take at least two weeks, state attorneys said, threatening to miss a federal requirement that ballots be released to military and overseas voters by 21 September.

But Kennedy lawyer Phil Strach argued in court that Kennedy complied with state law by presenting a written request to step down as the candidate, and that there's another law allowing the ballot release be delayed under this circumstance. Otherwise, Kennedy's free-speech rights in the state constitution forcing him to remain on the ballot against his will have been violated, Strach told Holt.

“This is very straightforward case about ballot integrity and following the law,” Strach said, adding that keeping Kennedy on the ballot would bring confusion to voters who thought he was no longer a candidate.

But Special Deputy Attorney General Carla Babb said the confusion would occur if ballot distribution was delayed, potentially forcing the state to have to seek a waiver of the 21 September federal deadline. State laws and regulations gave the elections board the ability to reject Kennedy's withdrawal based on whether it was practical to have the ballots reprinted, she said.

“Elections are not just a game and states are not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for office,” Babb told Holt.

In rejecting Kennedy's request, Holt said that while the harm imposed upon Kennedy for staying on ballots is minimal, the harm to the state board with such an order would be substantial, such as the reprinting of ballots at considerable cost to taxpayers.

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 but a judge ruled Tuesday that he must remain on the ballot there.