The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Friday blocked the state from sending out absentee ballots as it considers a lawsuit from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is seeking to be removed from the state's presidential ballot.
In an order released Friday, the court granted Kennedy's petition to stay a decision from a lower court on Thursday, which had denied his request to be removed from the ballot.
North Carolina's absentee ballots were to start going out in the mail at noon Friday.
Late Thursday, Kennedy's attorneys appealed Wake County Superior Judge Rebecca Holt's decision earlier in the day to reject a temporary restraining order that would block the State Board of Elections from keeping his name on the ballot as the candidate for the We the People Party, reports The Carolina Journal Friday
Kennedy has been pushing to have his name removed after he suspended his campaign last month and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Holt agreed to stay the ruling for 24 hours to give him time to file an appeal. His lawyers filed the paperwork just before 10:30 p.m. ET Thursday.
Kennedy's attorneys argued that he complied with all requirements necessary to remove his name from the ballots, and said if Thursday's ruling isn't overturned, he would "suffer irreparable harm and be denied his right to a meaningful appeal."
The state election board's lawyers responded that Kennedy's party was litigating as recently as Aug. 21 to ensure that his name would appear on the ballot, but two days later, on Aug. 23, he announced that he was "'suspending his campaign, but not terminating it.'"
Kennedy also said that in about 10 battleground states where his presence would serve as a "spoiler," he would remove his name from the ballots and urge voters not to vote for him, the state said in its 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."
During that time, the board had completed its ballot preparation and stressed that Holt found that Kennedy would suffer "zero practical, personal, or professional harm" with his name remaining on the ballot, considering he's fighting to have his name remain on ballots in at least two other states.
"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.
A three-judge panel from the 15-member appeals court will consider the Kennedy petition. There has not been a time announced concerning when a decision will be reached.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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