(The Center Square) – A judge announced on Thursday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to be removed from the ballot in North Carolina has been denied.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Waters Holt did allow Kennedy a 24-hour stay on ballot delivery, giving his legal team time to appeal the decision to the state’s Court of Appeals.
Due to the decision, the North Carolina State Board of Elections ordered counties to temporarily pause ballot distributions, which were set to begin on Friday.
“Make preparations to not send out ballots tomorrow morning, unless you hear otherwise from the State Board,” said a statement from State Board of Elections general counsel Paul Cox to the counties.
Cox told the counties to “stay tuned” for more information.
“The bottom line is: make plans to not send ballots out tomorrow morning, but be ready if that situation changes and we need to send out ballots later tomorrow,” he said.
This all comes after the board narrowly voted on Aug. 29 against Kennedy’s request to be removed from the ballot.
Members of the board claimed it was “impractical” to remove him from the ballot, especially in light of the “approximately 2 million ballots statewide [that] have already been printed with Kennedy’s name on them.”
Kennedy’s lawsuit against the board following that decision was the fifth lawsuit filed against the board in 40 days, rounding up a summer of controversy.
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In his lawsuit, Kennedy said not removing him impeded his freedom of speech. He announced his withdrawal on Aug. 23 and the board did not vote until Aug. 29. His litigation was filed the next day.
Holt ruled that it would cause North Carolina “considerable cost and effort” to remove Kennedy from the ballot, siding with the majority of the board.
Kennedy was granted access to the ballot on July 16 affiliated with the We The People Party, after first being denied access by the board.
Kennedy decided to remove his name from the ballot following his decision to suspend his presidential campaign on Aug. 23, less than 24 hours after the Democratic National Convention wrapped. In the press conference, he blamed “shadowy DNC operatives” for fighting his campaign’s access to the ballot at every turn and announced that he would endorse former President Donald Trump.
Since then Kennedy’s name has been removed from the ballots in four of seven consensus battleground states, while he continues on the ballot in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Both the board and the court plan to release more details and information about the decision and its impact on Thursday afternoon.
