Alert: I encourage every American who deeply cares about their right to vote, who believes in free and fair elections, and who wants their vote to be counted, to stand with the good people of North Carolina. Thank you, Mark Joseph Stern and Slate Magazine for highlighting this latest development.
"The North Carolina Supreme Court tossed a grenade into the state’s election on Monday, violating both state and federal law to grant Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cynical, last-minute removal from the ballot. Its 4–3 decision will compel election administrators to destroy nearly 3 million already-printed ballots that featured Kennedy’s name and redesign 2,348 different ballot styles across the state to accommodate the eleventh-hour change. This complex process will significantly delay the distribution of new ballots—which will, in turn, unlawfully abridge early voting for everyone while jeopardizing the voting rights of service members overseas in clear contradiction of federal statute."
"Voters who requested an absentee ballot were, by law, entitled to get them mailed out by Sept. 6. Now these ballots cannot be mailed out for weeks. The ruling was so destabilizing that even Justice Richard Dietz, a conservative, felt moved to dissent, faulting the majority for failing “to follow the law as it is written.”
Because minorities tend to vote early, the partisan justices' decision places their thumbs on the scale to restrict the voter's early access to the ballot box in favor of their candidate.
For the good people of North Carolina: Do not be discouraged or dismayed. You have the power in your hands. If you haven't created a plan to vote, do it now - and help your neighbors, friends, and family to do the same. Reach out to organizations like Common Cause and Democracy North Carolina for help in making sure your voices are heard at the ballot box.
Expect voting to be inconvenient because of the ruling but you can't afford to sit this one out! It's too important. You may have to stand in line for hours, but don't leave until you cast your vote. This election will be close and your vote matters, perhaps more than any other time in our nation's history. If it weren't so, the justices would have ruled differently. You got this, good people of North Carolina! The world is watching.
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