North Carolina could miss a federal deadline to distribute mail-in ballots to members of the military and overseas voters, as the state scrambles to reprint ballots to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the list of presidential candidates.
The state may seek a Department of Defense waiver in case it cannot meet the requirement to have ballots distributed at least 45 days before Election Day, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. The deadline this cycle would be Sept. 21.
Election officials are in a dash to redesign and reprint ballots on time, after the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Monday that Kennedy, who made it onto the ballot as a We The People Party candidate, should not be included.
“We will continue to consult with counties and ballot vendors to determine the feasible start date for distributing absentee ballots statewide, mindful of the goal to meet the 45-day federal deadline,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in a statement. “This decision imposes a tremendous hardship on our county boards, at an extremely busy time. But our election officials are professionals, and I have no doubt we will rise to the challenge.”