(The Center Square) – The North Carolina State Board of Elections narrowly voted against a request to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the ballot.
The board called the last-minute meeting on Thursday to consider removing the We the People party, which nominated Kennedy as its pick for the presidential election.
The meeting was heated, with the board split down party lines. Chairman Alan Hirsch, and members Jeff Carmon and Siobhan Millan, all Democrats, voted against striking Kennedy from the ballot, while Kevin Lewis and Stacy Eggers, both Republicans, voted to approve.
“The statutory deadline of Sept. 6 can’t be ignored just because of the capricious behavior of one party’s candidate, one party, one person,” Millan said in the meeting. “I’m just going to be real blunt and say I think this whole episode has been a farce, and I feel bad for anyone who’s been deceived.”
The decision follows a summer of controversy for the board, which included multiple lawsuits and a federal investigation.
In early July, the We the People party was first denied access to the ballot, a decision that was later reversed on July 16.
Kennedy announced his decision to suspend his presidential campaign on Aug. 23, less than 24 hours after the Democratic National Convention wrapped. In the press conference, he blamed “shadowy DNC operatives” for fighting his campaign’s access to the ballot at every turn in states across the country.
It took until Wednesday for the We the People party to officially request that Kennedy be removed from their ticket in North Carolina.
Democrats on the board cited the “impracticality” of reprinting ballots as a key factor in their decision; mail-in ballots are supposed to be sent out in the state starting Sept. 6 and many counties have begun printing.
“The decision was made for us when the party didn’t remove him weeks ago,” Carmon said.
The Sept. 6 deadline makes North Carolina one of the first states in the nation to send out its ballots.
Republicans on the board pointed to a provision that allows ballots to be sent out later if they are not yet ready.
Following the vote, Lewis addressed Chairman Hirsch with his concerns.
“Next time you refer to flexibility in the statutes, let’s call it what it is and say it’s situational flexibility,” he said.
Kennedy has asked that his supporters vote for former President Donald Trump even if his name remains on the ballot.
It remains to be seen how much this will affect the race in North Carolina, where Kennedy has been polling at an average of 3.2%.