Early voting process delayed in North Carolina as RFK Jr. appeals to remove his name from ballot
North Carolina was set to send out ballots on Friday.
An appeals court judge has halted the start of the early voting process in North Carolina, ordering mail-in ballots to not be disseminated as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues his appeal to remove his name from the ballot -- an effort to support former President Donald Trump's efforts to win the state.
North Carolina was set to send out ballots on Friday and would have been the first state to start mailing out absentee ballots, kicking off the early voting process.
It's not yet clear what the halt means for the timing of early voting in the state -- or how long the appeals process will take. As of Friday afternoon, the North Carolina State Board of Elections is directing counties to not send out the ballots as originally planned.
Kennedy, who suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump last month, has said he would remove himself from the ballot in battleground states where he could act as a "spoiler" for Trump, but he encouraged voters in solidly Democratic or Republican states to vote for him as it is unlikely that it would make a difference in the match-up between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
All votes, including early votes, will be crucial for the campaigns in the battleground state of North Carolina. Trump won the state by less than 2 percentage points in 2020.
Paul Cox, general counsel for NCSBE, wrote in a letter to county boards of elections to "not send any ballots out today."
"The [Court of Appeals] has also ordered that the We The People party's ballot line be removed (including Kennedy and [Nicole] Shanahan)," Cox wrote. "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."
Totally reprinting ballots would be a tremendous pull, financially and otherwise, on North Carolina state resources, and could take several days if not longer to sort out.
Lawyers for Kennedy sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections last week to get him removed from the ballot. In a court order published Thursday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Rebecca Holt wrote that she denied Kennedy's request to withdraw from the North Carolina ballot.
The successful appeal, filed by lawyers late Thursday night in the North Carolina Court of Appeals, argued that the Thursday ruling should be held up in order to avoid causing Kennedy "irreparable harm" and also to serve the public interest -- as they said removing Kennedy from the ballot would avoid voter confusion.
"There is an undeniable interest in avoiding ballot confusion, as well as having a ballot where each qualified voter and their vote is counted equally," the court wrote. "By forcing Kennedy to remain on the ballot despite his withdrawal from the contest in North Carolina over a week ago, Defendants and the trial court have brought those foundational principles into jeopardy."
Lawyers for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, in a response filed Friday, argued that the appeals court should not grant the delay, saying that it would cause issues for voters and high costs for the state.
"Voting in North Carolina is supposed to begin [Friday, September 6]. Our State's elections officials have gone to admirable lengths to ensure that voters across North Carolina will receive their ballots on time and enjoy the full two months for voting mandated by state law. This Court should reject Plaintiff's eleventh-hour attempt to disrupt that democratic process," they wrote.
Months ago, supporters of Kennedy were fighting to get him on the ballot -- instead of off of it -- after We the People party's application for ballot access in North Carolina faced objections from Democratic-aligned groups. The NCSBE, at the time, eventually ruled in favor of granting the party ballot access.
As of Friday afternoon, there are 13 states where ABC News has confirmed he has been taken off the ballot: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, New Hampshire, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming.
A Michigan appeals court Friday overruled a lower court judge and the Michigan Department of State and said Kennedy should have his name removed from the ballot in the battleground state, after he was initially unsuccessful in doing so.
After earlier encouraging voters in non-competitive states to continue supporting him, he said the opposite in a fundraising email earlier this week. In the email, Kennedy urged all his supporters, no matter where they live, to vote for Trump.
"No matter what state you live in, I urge you to vote for Donald Trump," Kennedy wrote. "The reason is that is the only way we can get me and everything I stand for into Washington D.C. and fulfill the mission that motivated my campaign."
Kennedy did not explain why he changed course, but he seemed to acknowledge the potential confusion.
"This isn't about splitting votes or sending mixed signals," he wrote. "It's about creating a united front that will carry us through these turbulent times and restore integrity to our government."
WTVD's Jamiese Price and Ross Weidner contributed to this report.