In a surprising turn of events, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the former Independent presidential candidate for the 2024 election, has successfully appealed to have his name removed from the ballots in North Carolina and Michigan.
This comes after Kennedy's initial request was denied by a lower court in North Carolina.
According to CBS 17, the North Carolina Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's decision, thereby preventing the North Carolina Board of Elections from including Kennedy's name on the presidential ballots. The court order stated, "The North Carolina Board of Elections is enjoined from disseminating ballots" that list Kennedy as a presidential candidate. This victory for Kennedy comes on the heels of Wake County Superior Judge Rebecca Holt's ruling that Kennedy's name must remain on the state's ballots.
Kennedy was given a mere 24 hours to appeal Judge Holt's decision, as the first batch of absentee ballots was scheduled to be mailed out to North Carolina residents on Friday. However, it is likely that counties delayed mailing their ballots due to Kennedy's appeal. North Carolina is expected to be the first state to send out ballots to voters.
On August 23, Kennedy announced his decision to withdraw his name from the ballots in approximately 10 battleground states, following the suspension of his campaign and his endorsement of the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. However, his request for removal was denied by the Democrats in a partisan vote held by the North Carolina Board of Elections on August 29. Kennedy, who had previously appeared on North Carolina ballots as a member of the We The People Party, filed a lawsuit the following day.
As reported by the RealClearPolitics average, Trump currently leads Vice President Kamala Harris in North Carolina by a slim margin of 0.7%.
Kennedy, who initially faced challenges in gaining ballot access as an Independent candidate, also encountered difficulties in other swing states, including Michigan and Wisconsin, as he sought to remove his name from their ballots.
As reported by the Daily Caller, Cheri Hardmon, senior press secretary for Democrat Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, stated that Kennedy could not be removed from the state's ballot due to MCL168.42 and MCL168.686a. The latter statute stipulates that minor party candidates duly nominated and certified by their parties cannot withdraw from the ballot, a rule that Benson's office insisted applied to Kennedy, a Natural Law Party candidate.
However, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that Kennedy's name could indeed be removed from the state's ballot. The Detroit Free Press reported that the three-judge panel declared Benson's office "had no basis to deny (Kennedy's) request to withdraw his name from the ballot." The court concurred with Kennedy's argument that presidential candidates did not fall under the statute cited by Benson's office.
The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Harris leading Trump in Michigan by 1.1% and in Wisconsin by 1.4%. Despite these numbers, the removal of Kennedy's name from the ballots in these key states could potentially alter the dynamics of the race, underscoring the importance of every vote in this closely contested election.
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