MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Absentee ballots in North Carolina are being mailed starting Friday morning after a delay to remove the name of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had dropped out of the race for president.
All 100 North Carolina counties start sending out ballots Friday, after reprinting the official ballots with the proper changes. The new ballots will be sent to members of the military and U.S. citizens who are out of the country and have requested a ballot.
The state board announced that the ballots would go out on Sept. 20. This day is important because the military must have their ballots sent to them at least 45 days before the general election. Friday is 46 days before the election.
Postmaster General Louis Dejoy said the public should not have to worry about getting their ballots in a timely manner.
“You can count on them to deliver exceptional results this election, as we have in the past," he said. "Moving the nation's election mail over the next 47 days is an all-hands-on deck effort for the Postal Service.”
The delays were caused in the state in late August, when Kennedy dropped out of the campaign for president as the nominee of the We the People party and endorsed Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. Kennedy then requested that his name be removed from the ballot, which at first was denied.
Then in early September, the North Carolina Supreme Court ordered the state's ballots to be reprinted without his name.
Next Tuesday, county elections boards will start mailing out mail in ballots to all other North Carolina residents who request an absentee ballot.