North Carolina Supreme Court strikes RFK Jr's name from the ballot

The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name must be removed from state presidential ballots. The 4-3 decision upholds an earlier appeals court ruling Friday that also demanded Kennedy’s name be stricken from the ballot, NBC News reported.

The ruling is a favorable one for the former independent candidate who has endorsed the Republican presidential run of former President Donald Trump and does not want to compete against him in battleground states like North Carolina. A lower court had turned down Kennedy’s request for removal from the ballot. All presidential ballots in the state must now be reprinted.

“We acknowledge that expediting the process of printing new ballots will require considerable time and effort by our election officials and significant expense to the State,” Justice Trey Allen wrote in Monday's majority opinion. “But that is a price the North Carolina Constitution expects us to incur to protect voters’ fundamental right to vote their conscience and have that vote count.” Justices Anita Earls, Richard Dietz and Allison Riggs dissented.

Although this decision is a victory for Kennedy and his coalition with Trump, Kennedy’s name will remain on the presidential ballot in Michigan, where the state’s Supreme Court ruled against his request for removal. As an independent candidate, Kennedy had fought to get his name on as many presidential ballots as possible but now his name gives the appearance that he is running against Trump in key states.

Kennedy promised at a news conference to have his name removed from the presidential ballots in 10 battleground states.

Monday's ruling in North Carolina was based in part on the state constitution’s Free Elections Clause that enforces both the right to vote and the right to vote accurately, with the majority of justices agreeing that if Kennedy’s name “appears on the ballot, it could disenfranchise countless voters who mistakenly believe that plaintiff remains a candidate for office.”