By Lynn Bonner

NC Newsline

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name will not appear on North Carolina ballots, following a ruling from the state Supreme Court.

In a 4-3 ruling, the court on Monday rejected the state Board of Election’s appeal of an Appeals Court order.

Counties had already begun printing ballots with Kennedy’s name on them when he asked to withdraw in late August.

A Superior Court judge last Thursday agreed with the elections board that Kennedy’s name should remain on the ballot. A panel of Appeals Court judges overturned that decision Friday. More than 2.9 million ballots had been printed by Friday, according to the state Board of Elections.

The order delayed the mailing of absentee ballots to people who have requested them.

Ballots must now be reprinted at the counties’ expense. It will cost about $1 million to remove Kennedy’s name, a lawyer representing the state board wrote in a court filing.

The state may have to ask for a waiver of the Sept. 21 federal deadline for mailing absentee ballots, board spokesman Patrick Gannon said in an email Friday.

Supreme Court Justice Trey Allen, writing for the majority, said people who mistakenly vote for Kennedy would be disenfranchised.

Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell should have paused ballot printing when Kennedy announced on Aug. 23 that he was suspending his campaign, Allen wrote.

“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,” Allen wrote. “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.”

Kennedy fought to have his name placed on the North Carolina ballot, starting a party called We the People to help him more easily gain ballot access. The state board of elections certified We the People as a political party, which allowed Kennedy to run as the party’s candidate.

The state Democratic Party sued the Board over the certification. A Superior Court judge in August sided with the board, which allowed Kennedy to stay on the ballot.

When he announced he was suspending his campaign, endorsing former President Donald  Trump, and withdrawing his name from 10 battleground states, Kennedy did not identify the states. Kennedy encouraged people in noncompetitive states to vote for him.

In her dissent, Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs wrote that as the nominated candidate of a political party, Kennedy could not unilaterally remove his name in the run-up to an election.

“Elections — the cornerstone of our democracy — are not games or exercises in ego-stroking,” she wrote. “Forcing the state to put his name on the ballot, creating for the state costs both practical and legal, he now wants to reprint millions of ballots because he has decided to suspend his campaign without actually ending it or foreclosing the possibility of his election.”

Four of the court’s Republicans rejected the Board’s appeal, while the court’s two Democrats and one Republican dissented.

Investigative Reporter Lynn Bonner covers the state legislature and politics, as well as elections, the state budget, public and mental health, safety net programs and issues of racial equality.