Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Officially Taken Off North Carolina Ballot by Supreme Court

Sept. 10 UPI – The North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled to take Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name off the state’s general election ballot, a win for the former presidential candidate. The court’s decision, with a close 4-3 vote, confirmed a lower court ruling that Kennedy should be removed from the November ballot. Last week, the North Carolina State Board of Elections tried to challenge that decision.

The court acknowledged that reprinting new ballots will take time, effort, and money, but said this is necessary to protect voters’ rights.

Kennedy, 70, entered the presidential race as an independent candidate but ended his campaign on Aug. 23. Despite his earlier campaigning and securing his name on ballots in nearly two dozen states, he dropped out and endorsed Donald Trump for president. He also asked for his name to be removed from the ballots in 10 key states.

In North Carolina, Kennedy went to court to have his name removed after the state’s election board denied his request. A lower court judge, Rebecca Holt, initially sided with the state, arguing that removing Kennedy’s name would cause more harm than leaving it.

Kennedy then appealed, and the appeals court overturned the lower court’s decision, which led the state to take the matter to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

On Monday, the state’s highest court ruled that including Kennedy’s name would confuse voters and present an inaccurate list of candidates. The court also noted that the lower court had focused too much on the costs and not enough on the potential harm to voters.

The state election board reported that over 2.9 million ballots had already been printed before the court’s ruling. Karen Brinson Bell, director of state elections, instructed counties to delay sending absentee ballots until at least Sept. 21.

Meanwhile, Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled to keep Kennedy’s name on the ballot, and a similar decision was made in Wisconsin.