Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will not appear on ballots in North Carolina and Michigan, appeals courts ruled in two separate decisions Friday.
Election authorities in the two swing states previously decided that Kennedy’s name would remain on their ballots, rejecting a request from Kennedy to withdraw from the race.
Friday’s rulings are good news for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. In North Carolina and Michigan, Trump polls better in a two-way race against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris than in a six-candidate race, according to polling averages from RealClearPolling.
When Kennedy suspended his long-shot campaign and threw his support behind Trump on Aug. 23, he said that he planned to remove his name from ballots in ten swing states where Trump stood to benefit from the race shrinking to a head-to-head matchup with Harris.
But Kennedy’s plan was easier said than done. In three battleground states — North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin — state election authorities rejected Kennedy’s request to get off the ballot.
North Carolina’s State Board of Elections on Aug. 29 voted against the We The People Party, who nominated Kennedy in the state, deciding “it would not be practical to reprint ballots that have already been printed and meet the state law deadline to start absentee voting.”
Absentee ballots in North Carolina were scheduled to be mailed out starting on Friday, but that process has been halted in light of the state appeals court decision, which granted Kennedy’s request.
In a memo sent to North Carolina’s 100 county election directors, the NCSBE’s general counsel Paul Cox instructed the directors not to send any ballots, but to keep those they had already printed with Kennedy’s name.
He wrote that the NCSBE has not yet decided whether to appeal the ruling.
“The court 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.”
In Michigan, Kennedy’s original request was rejected due to state law, which says minor party candidates cannot withdraw from the presidential race.
He filed a lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over the decision, but a judge on Tuesday ruled that Kennedy’s name would stay on the ballot.
Friday’s appeals court decision reverses that ruling, granting Kennedy’s request to get off the ballot.
“While the request was made close to the deadline for defendant to give notice of candidates to local election officials, it was not made so late that laches should apply,” three appeals court judges wrote. “Additionally, we conclude that the absence of any statutory authority prohibiting his withdrawal gave plaintiff a clear legal right to have his name removed from the ballot.”
With Friday’s rulings, the only state still rejecting Kennedy’s withdrawal effort is Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Elections Commision on Aug. 27 voted 5-1 to keep Kennedy’s name on its ballot. Kennedy on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging the decision.
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