Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suing the North Carolina State Board of Elections in an attempt to remove his name from the state’s ballot after he withdrew from battleground state ballots.
The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court on Friday, comes after the board denied his request to be removed from the general election ballot because it would not be practical to reprint ballots and to meet the state’s absentee voting deadline.
Kennedy’s lawsuit said the board refused to acknowledge his statutory rights and entitlements and have “irreparably harmed him,” The News & Observer reported.
The lawsuit follows Kennedy suspending his campaign in swing states and endorsing former President Trump. He said he would stay on the ballot in most red and blue states but be withdrawing from battleground states where he could draw votes away from Trump.
The North Carolina board of elections said it scheduled an emergency meeting to evaluate Kennedy’s request to be removed as a We The People Party nominee.
The three Democrats on the board overruled the two Republicans in determining it was “too late in the process to change course” and prepare the state ahead of the November election.
Both Michigan and Wisconsin, two key swing states, also shot down Kennedy’s request to be removed.
Kennedy’s lawsuit argues he complied with the law and met the necessary deadline to be removed from ballots. He alleges the board knew he wanted to be removed but told counties to begin printing ballots anyway, WRAL News reported.
As it stands, votes for Kennedy will be counted in the Nov. 5 election.
The Hill has reached out to the board of elections.
