Robert Brown|North Carolina court orders RFK Jr.'s name to be removed just before ballots are sent

RALEIGH,Robert Brown N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina appeals court on Friday ruled that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s name must be taken off state ballots for president, upending plans in the battleground state just as officials were about to begin mailing out the nation’s first absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 presidential election.

The intermediate-level Court of Appeals issued an order granting Kennedy’s request to halt the mailing of ballots that included his name. The court also told a trial judge to order the State Board of Elections to distribute ballots without Kennedy’s name on them. No legal explanation was given.

State law otherwise required the first absentee ballots to be mailed or transmitted no later than 60 days before the general election, making Friday the deadline. The process of reprinting and assembling ballot packages likely would take more than two weeks, state attorneys have said. The ruling could be appealed.

Kennedy, the nominee of the We The People party in North Carolina, had sued last week to get off the state’s ballots after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump. But the Democratic majority on the State Board of Elections rejected the request, saying it was too late in the process of printing ballots and coding tabulation machines. Kennedy then sued.

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Wake County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Holt on Thursday denied Kennedy’s effort to keep his name off ballots, prompting his appeal. In the meantime, Holt told election officials to hold back sending absentee ballots until noon Friday.

A favorable outcome for Kennedy could assist Trump’s efforts to win the presidential battleground of North Carolina. Trump won the state’s electoral votes by just 1.3 percentage points over Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

More than 132,500 people — military and overseas workers and in-state civilian residents — have requested North Carolina absentee ballots so far, the State Board of Elections said.

In an email, state board attorney Paul Cox told election directors in all 100 counties after Friday’s ruling to hold on to the current ballots but not send them. More than 2.9 million absentee and in-person ballots have been printed so far.

No decision has been made on appealing Friday’s decision, Cox wrote, and removing Kennedy and running mate Nicole Shanahan from the ballot would be “a major undertaking for everyone,” Cox wrote.

Since Kennedy suspended his campaign, the environmentalist and author has tried to get his name removed from ballots in several states where the race between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are expected to be close.

Kennedy on Wednesday sued in Wisconsin to get his name removed from the presidential ballot there after the state elections commission voted to keep him on it. Kennedy also filed a lawsuit in Michigan but a judge ruled Tuesday that he must remain on the ballot there.