Benjamin Ashford|North Carolina absentee ballots release, delayed by RFK Jr. ruling, to begin late next week

RALEIGH,Benjamin Ashford N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s first absentee ballots for the November election will now be distributed starting late next week, the State Board of Elections announced Friday, days after appeals court judges prevented original ballots containing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s name from being sent.

North Carolina had been poised to be the first in the nation to send out ballots to voters for the fall elections. State law directed the first absentee ballots be mailed or transmitted to those already asking no later than 60 days before Election Day, or Sept. 6 this year. But on that day the state Court of Appeals granted Kennedy’s request to halt the mailing of ballots that included his name for president.

Kennedy had sued the board in late August to remove his name as the We The People party candidate the week after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump. The state Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision on Monday, left the lower-court decision in place.

These rulings forced county election officials to reassemble absentee ballot packets, reprint ballots and recode tabulation machines. Counties had printed more than 2.9 million absentee and in-person ballots before last Friday’s court order, according to the state board. Alabama became the first state to mail ballots, on Wednesday.

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The state board on Friday revealed a two-tiered release of ballots to the over 166,000 voters who have requested them so far.

First, ballots requested by more than 13,600 military and overseas voters would be sent Sept. 20, which would ensure that the state complies with a federal law requiring ballots be transmitted to these applicant categories by Sept. 21.

Ballots to the other conventional in-state absentee requesters would then follow on Sept. 24. The board said in a news release it would give counties more time to ensure their vendors could print enough amended ballots.

Counties must bear the ballot reprinting costs. A board news release said the expense to counties could vary widely, from a few thousand dollars in some smaller counties to $55,100 in Durham County and $300,000 in Wake County, the state’s largest by population. Wake elections board member Gerry Cohen said on social media Friday that his county’s amount included a 20% surcharge from its ballot printer for the delays.

Early in-person voting starts statewide Oct. 17. The deadline to request absentee ballots is Oct. 29. A law taking effect this year says mail-in absentee ballots must be turned in to election officials sooner — by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.

Since suspending his campaign, Kennedy has attempted to take his name off ballots in key battleground states like North Carolina where the race between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are close.

Kennedy sued the North Carolina board the day after its Democratic majority determined it was too late in the ballot printing process for his name to be removed. A trial judge denied a temporary restraining order sought by Kennedy, but a three-judge Court of Appeals panel granted Kennedy’s request to halt the mailing of ballots that included his name.

In the prevailing opinion backed by four Republican justices, the state Supreme Court said it would be wrong for Kennedy, who submitted a candidacy resignation letter, to remain on the ballot because it could disenfranchise “countless” voters who would otherwise believe he was still a candidate. Dissenting justices wrote in part that the board was justified by state law in retaining Kennedy’s name because it was impractical to make ballot changes so close to the Sept. 6 distribution deadline.