RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina's State Board of Elections (NCSBE) rejected the We The People Party's request to remove its nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from the state's general election ballot on Thursday.
According to the board, an estimated two million ballots have already been printed with Kennedy’s name on them, and the first ballots will be sent to absentee voters in eight days making it impractical to reprint ballots in time for the state law absentee voting start deadline.
On Wednesday, the Executive Committee of We The People Party of North Carolina filed a formal request with the State Board of Elections to remove RFK Jr. and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, from the ballot.
On Thursday, the NCSBE held an emergency meeting; their tentative agenda listed “Consideration of We The People Party’s August 28, 2024, request to withdraw presidential nominee” as a line item and cites election laws surrounding late ballot changes and the responsibilities associated with preparing official ballots.
"There is no deadline in state law for when a party may withdraw its presidential nominee and have their name replaced or removed from the ballot," the board states. "However, under state law, absentee ballots must go out by September 6 to voters who have already requested them, including military and overseas voters who may need more time to return their ballots."
On Friday, Aug. 23, RFK Jr. endorsed former President Donald Trump and announced at an event in Arizona his intention to remove himself from battleground state ballots to avoid siphoning votes from the Trump campaign.
Earlier in the month, on Aug. 12, a Wake County Superior Court rejected the North Carolina Democratic Party's challenge to the board’s decision to declare We the People an official party.
That decision allowed RFK Jr. and other We the People party candidates to remain on North Carolina’s presidential ballots.
At the time, NCSBE officials said We The People organizers turned in enough valid signatures from registered and qualified voters to exceed the petition threshold – 13,865 – in state law.
However, the state’s Democratic Party filed a complaint to reverse the Aug. 12 NCSBE decision, claiming Kennedy’s campaign is allegedly trying to evade tougher standards set for independent party candidates per state laws – specifically the collection of six times as many signatures required to get them on the ballot.