- The North Carolina State Board of Elections is asking the state Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court ruling removing Robert F. Kennedy's name from the state election ballot.
- A unanimous three-judge state Court of Appeals panel ruled Friday that elections officials could not use ballots with Kennedy's name.
- Elections board lawyers argue that the Appeals Court "has thrown our State’s elections process into chaos."
The North Carolina State Board of Elections is asking the state Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling removing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from the state’s election ballot.
State board lawyers filed paperwork with the high court Friday afternoon, hours after a unanimous three-judge state Appeals Court panel ruled in Kennedy’s favor.
“Under state law, voting in North Carolina was supposed to begin today, September 6, when county boards of elections mailed absentee ballots to voters across the globe, including our State’s military and overseas voters,” elections board lawyers wrote. “Now, however, the North Carolina Court of Appeals has thrown our State’s elections process into chaos. This morning, that court ordered the State Board to cast aside weeks — if not months — of preparation, trash millions of already printed ballots, and restart the ballot-preparation process again, all so that one presidential candidate’s name can be removed.”
“The Court of Appeals’ last-minute disruption of the State’s election procedures would be alarming in any election cycle, given the impact it will have on North Carolinians’ constitutional right to vote and given the time and money that has already been expended by elections officials across the State. But it is especially galling in this election cycle, considering the context in which this lawsuit arises,” the court filing continued.
The elections board spelled out its concerns about Kennedy seeking to remove his name from North Carolina’s ballot while “he is continuing to fundraise and to seek access to the ballot in certain States.”
Kennedy responded Saturday to the elections board’s request.
“Rather than push forward with printing correct ballots, as they were ordered, Defendants come to this Court lamenting the burden of such a task,” Kennedy’s lawyers wrote. “Defendants’ petition appears premised on a simple fact: they wish they could have sent out ballots on September 6, 2024, regardless of the harm to Plaintiff.”
“By barreling ahead and ignoring Plaintiff’s requests, they hoped to run out the clock on any possibility of Plaintiff obtaining meaningful judicial relief,” the court filing continued. “But
Defendants’ regrets do not form a basis for the relief they seek. Nor do they justify ignoring Plaintiff’s clearly established right to not appear on North Carolina’s upcoming general election ballot.”
A unanimous three-judge appellate panel issued its ruling favoring Kennedy Friday morning. Court rules will keep the participating judges’ names secret for 90 days.
The Appeals Court stayed a Thursday ruling from Wake County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Holt. Holt would have permitted mailing absentee ballots with Kennedy’s name. Elections officials had planned to start mailing ballots Friday.
Kennedy is the petitioner at the Appeals Court. Elections board defendants are considered respondents.
“Respondents are hereby enjoined from disseminating ballots listing petitioner as a candidate for President of the United States,” according to the order. “The stay and injunction will remain in effect until the disposition of petitioner’s appeal or until further order of this Court.”
“This cause is remanded to the Superior Court of Wake County for entry of order directing the State Board of Elections to disseminate ballots without the name of petitioner Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appearing as a candidate for President of the United States,” the order continued.
Paul Cox, the State Board of Elections’ general counsel, responded to the ruling with an email to county elections directors under the subject line “Continue with Ballot Pause”:
The Court of Appeals just issued an order reversing the denial of the restraining order that was requested by Kennedy. It is attached. The court has ordered a further pause to ballot distribution. Do not send any ballots out today.
The court has also ordered that the We The People party’s ballot line be removed (including Kennedy and Shanahan). Obviously, this will be a major undertaking for everyone. Our attorneys are reviewing the order and determining how to move forward. No decision has been made on whether this ruling will be appealed.
Bottom line: continue to hold your outgoing absentee ballots—both military and overseas citizen ballots, and ballots for civilian voters. We will update you immediately with any further developments.
Kennedy’s lawyers filed paperwork at 10:22 p.m. Thursday asking the Appeals Court to step into the legal dispute over Kennedy’s name appearing on the state’s election ballot.
The request followed Holt’s decision Thursday to reject Kennedy’s motion for a temporary restraining order. Kennedy’s lawyers had asked Holt to block the State Board of Elections from moving forward with ballots including Kennedy’s name as presidential candidate for the new We the People Party.
Holt agreed to stay her ruling for 24 hours. Now she must issue a new order complying with the Appeals Court’s ruling.
“In this action, Kennedy timely complied with all requirements set forth under state law in order to remove his name from North Carolina’s general election ballot prior to September 6, 2024,” his lawyers wrote to the Appeals Court. “This statutory compliance notwithstanding, the North Carolina State Board of Elections (‘NCSBE’) declined to remove Kennedy from the ballot, relying on their own indeterminate, subjective ‘practicality’ standard.”
“Kennedy brought suit, and the trial court has now denied Kennedy injunctive relief which would halt the printing and mailing of ballots with his name on them while this issue is decided,” the court filing continued. “But once ballots are mailed after September 6, 2024, the issue becomes moot — thus, absent this Court’s issuance of a writ of supersedeas, staying the trial court’s order and entering a temporary injunction to preserve the status quo, Kennedy will suffer irreparable harm and be denied his right to a meaningful appeal.”
The state elections board’s lawyers responded Friday morning.
“As recently as August 21, 2024, Plaintiff’s political party was litigating in an effort to ensure his name would appear on North Carolina’s ballot in November,” the state board’s lawyers wrote. “Two days later, Plaintiff held a press conference, in which he stated that he was ‘suspending his campaign, but not terminating it.’ He continued: ‘My name will still be on the ballot in most states. . . . But in about ten battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I will remove my name and urge voters not to vote for me.’”
“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 state board’s court filing continued. “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.”
By that time, “the State Board had already substantially completed its ballot-preparation efforts,” board lawyers wrote.
The state board emphasized Holt’s finding that Kennedy would suffer “zero practical, personal, or professional harm” by remaining on the ballot.
“Indeed, even now, Plaintiff is continuing to fight for his name to be on the ballot in at least two other states,” board lawyers wrote. “In this context, the trial court rightly found that Plaintiff’s cries of ‘irreparable harm’ ring entirely hollow.”
The elections board “would suffer significant harm” if courts agree with Kennedy. “Plaintiff does not seek conventional injunctive relief that would simply preserve the status quo while litigation unfolds,” according to the court filing. “Instead, 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.”
Holt signed an order Thursday afternoon denying Kennedy’s request for a temporary restraining order against the State Board of Elections. The board had voted last week against Kennedy’s request to have his name removed as a presidential candidate.
Kennedy is the plaintiff in the case. The State Board of Elections is the defendant.
“After weighing the potential harm to Plaintiff if injunctive relief is not issued against the potential harm to Defendants if injunctive relief is granted, the Court concludes that the balance of the equities weighs substantially in Defendants’ favor,” according to Holt’s order.
“The Court finds that Plaintiff will suffer no practical, personal, or pecuniary harm should his name remain on the ballot,” the order continued. “In contrast, if the State were enjoined and required to reprint ballots, the harm to Defendants, county boards of elections, and voters would be substantial.”
Kennedy filed suit against the elections board on Aug. 30, one day after a party-line 3-2 board vote denying Kennedy’s request to remove his name as a presidential candidate.
He dropped out of the presidential race on Aug. 23 and endorsed former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
We The People Party had selected Kennedy as its presidential candidate. The party won a court battle against the North Carolina Democratic Party earlier in August to remain on the ballot.
The state elections board’s three Democrats voted against removing Kennedy’s name from the ballot. The two Republican board members supported the request.