RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be removed from the North Carolina ballot and millions of ballots reprinted, the state Supreme Court ruled, finding that keeping Kennedy’s name on the ballot could disenfranchise voters who believed he is still running for office.
Kennedy fought North Carolina to get on the ballot, but worked to remove himself and his party, We the People, after he suspended his campaign, claiming that he didn’t want to hand the swing state to Democrats by dividing Republican voters.
Over 2,300 different ballot styles will have to be updated for the election, and over 2.9 million ballots have already been printed. The cost of reprinting ballots is estimated to be in the six figures.
In a 4-3 ruling Monday evening, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld an appeals court decision ordering the state to reprint its absentee ballots, rebuffing a trial court’s finding that the reprinting delay would be costly and hinder voters more than the presence of Kennedy’s name on the ballot would cause voter confusion.
“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. 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,” Justice Trey Allen wrote.
Allen also noted that state officials were aware on Friday, Aug. 23, that Kennedy had dropped out of the race and intended to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states, but continued preparing ballots with his name for another week.
“To a large extent, any harm suffered by defendants in light of the Court of Appeals’ order is of their own
making,” the judge wrote.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Anita Earls said the court’s decision to go along with Kennedy’s shifting desires contributes to a loss of faith in the impartiality of the state judiciary.
The state’s high court currently has a Republican majority. Originally, Republicans supported including Kennedy on the ballot to split left-leaning votes. After Kennedy endorsed former President Donald Trump, Republicans are now opposed to him remaining on the ballot because he could secure right-leaning votes.
“The right to vote is sacred, and fundamental to our system of democracy,” Earls wrote. “Abridging that right for voters who vote absentee by mail, and particularly overseas voters, in order to satisfy a particular candidate, no matter what party or what political office they seek, is not consistent with free elections and equal protection of the laws.”
Kennedy’s challenge caused the state to miss its Sept. 6 deadline to mail out absentee ballots. Elections officials have raised concerns that not all 100 of North Carolina’s counties will be able to reprint ballots before the federal deadline on Sept. 21.
Gerry Cohen, a member of the Wake County Board of Elections, said the county where most of the capital city of Raleigh is located has begun printing new ballots.
“Now we start all over again,” he said. “We have to replace all the envelopes, all the inserts, everything.”
The process will delay the county in other ways beyond reprinting, Cohen said. Training for election day workers takes place in the same space where the ballots are assembled, and some of the workers assembling ballot packages normally process voter registrations.
Wake County expects to have its ballots ready by the federal deadline, Cohen said, but it remains to be seen if all counties will be finished.
The state board has reported that over 130,000 absentee ballots have been requested already.
Monday’s decision, Cohen said, may have an impact beyond absentee voters whose ballots will be delayed.
“The real impact on the election might be, are these 132,500 people angry at the courts? Because that’s who delayed their voting,” Cohen said. “The voting was delayed by Robert F. Kennedy’s tardiness and by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. So the effect of the election could be, will those voters be angry? And if so, who will they be angry at?”