RFK Jr. Wins One Ballot Battle, Loses Another

The highest courts in North Carolina and Michigan made divergent rulings on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s efforts to be removed from their presidential ballots. While North Carolina's Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to exclude Kennedy from the ballot, Michigan's Supreme Court reversed a Court of Appeals ruling made Friday and kept his name on it. Kennedy had suspended his campaign over two weeks ago and endorsed Donald Trump.

Kennedy had initially sued Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, on August 30 to remove his name to prevent diverting votes from Trump. "He has not shown an entitlement to this extraordinary relief," stated the Michigan Supreme Court. Conversely, North Carolina's ruling means a costly reprint of over 2.9 million ballots that had already included Kennedy's name. As a result, election officials will need to reassemble more than 130,000 absentee ballot packets. The court acknowledged the extensive effort required but stated "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." (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)