Support truly
independent journalism
Robert F Kennedy Jr is suing to remove his name from the North Carolina ballots ahead of November’s presidential election – just months after he took legal action to get on them.
Kennedy filed the lawsuit on Friday after the North Carolina Election Board ruled last week it was too late to remove his name from the ballot as a third-party candidate in the battleground state.
His suit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, claims the state has “irreparably harmed” Kennedy and failing to remove him from the ballot violates his right to free speech, WRAL reports.
The independent candidate dropped out of the race on 23 August and backed Donald Trump after polling showed Kennedy would “hand the election over to the Democrats” if he continued.
In a statement last week the election board said it was too late in the process to prepare and print new ballots across the state, as some 1.7 million have already been printed with Kennedy’s name on.
“It would not be practical to reprint ballots that have already been printed and meet the state law deadline to start absentee voting,” the statement said.
It comes after Kennedy fought legal battles to get his name on the ballot by launching the We The People party in July. He was then sued by the North Carolina Democratic Party to block his name from appearing on the ballot, but the judge ruled in Kennedy’s favor.
The conspiracy theorist has made similar requests in Michigan and Wisconsin, but was also denied in the key swing states where polls indicate he could help Harris but hinder Trump by appearing on the ballots.
In Arizona, Kennedy’s request to be removed was granted by the state a day after he got his name on the ballot, The Hill reported, while Pennsylvania and Nevada also granted his request to withdraw.
When he dropped out of the race Kennedy said he would be removing his name in the 10 battleground states where his presence on the ballot could potentially hurt Trump.
“If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris, and [in] red states, the same will apply... If you do vote for me, [and] the major party candidates don’t win 270 votes, which is quite possible.. I could conceivably still end up in the White House in a contingent election,” the 70-year-old said.
“But in about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me.”
