OAN Staff James Meyers
1:31 PM – Friday, September 6, 2024
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has blocked the state from sending out absentee ballots as it considers a lawsuit from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is currently looking to be removed from the Tarheel State’s presidential ballot.
In an order released on Friday, the court granted Kennedy’s petition to keep a decision from a lower court on Thursday, which had denied his request to be removed from the ballot.
This comes after Kennedy Jr., who has been seen as a candidate that could potentially take votes from both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, asked to be taken off ballots in key swing states.
North Carolina’s State Board of Elections voted last week to reject Kennedy’s request for removal. Kennedy challenged the decision, and on Thursday, a Wake County Superior ruled that he must remain on the ballot.
However, the judge also ordered a delay in sending ballots to give Kennedy time to appeal the decision.
Kennedy has been calling for his name to be removed after he suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Trump.
Additionally, Kennedy’s attorneys argued that he complied with all requirements that were needed to remove his name from the ballots. They also said that if Thursday’s ruling isn’t overturned, he would “suffer irreparable harm and be denied his right to a meaningful appeal.”
The independent candidate also claimed that in almost 10 key states where his presence could become the role of “spoiler,” he would remove his name from the ballots and urge voters not to vote for him, the state put in their response.
“Plaintiff claims that the State Board should have known, based on this vague pronouncement, that he was requesting to have his name removed from North Carolina’s ballot,” the board’s response said. “But five days elapsed — until August 28, 2024 — before Plaintiff’s party (the We The People Party or ‘WTP’) formally requested his removal from North Carolina’s ballot.”
However, during that time, the board had completed its ballot preparation and stressed that Superior Judge Rebecca Holt found that Kennedy would suffer “zero practical, personal, or professional harm” with his name remaining on the ballot.
“Plaintiff would have the State’s entire ballot-preparation process stop and reset, costing the State and counties untold amounts of money and constricting by at least two weeks the time period in which voters can cast their ballots,” the board said.
Meanwhile, there has not been a set date on when a decision will be reached.
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