Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his campaign last week and endorsed Republican Donald Trump, will remain on the North Carolina ballot in November.

The state election board rejected a request from Kennedy’s We The People party to remove him and his running mate Nicole Shanahan from the ballot.

The board voted 3-2 along party lines during a special meeting Thursday, with the three Democrats voting to keep the We The People Party on the ballot while the board’s two Republicans wanted to remove the party from the North Carolina ballot.

WRAL has reached out to the Kennedy team and the We The People Party for comment on the decision.

The request came days after Kennedy suspended his presidential bid, amid a lengthy dispute between the party and state election officials who had delayed Kennedy’s access to the ballot.

“It takes a lot of chutzpah … to request the extraordinary relief of having ballots reprinted,” said board member Shioban Millen, a Democrat. “The Sept. 6 statutory deadline cannot be ignored just because of the capricious behavior of one party’s candidate.”

Democrats said a change would be “impractical” because North Carolina begins mail-in voting on Sept. 6. More than 1.7 million ballots have been printed so far, said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the elections board. She said 67 of the state’s 100 counties have received mail-in ballots.

Republicans said the law gives the panel the flexibility to remove “We The People” and “Kennedy” from the ballot, including an exception allowing a delay if ballots are not ready.

The We The People Party asked the board on Wednesday to remove Kennedy from the North Carolina ballot, but Kennedy’s lawyers sent a notice to that effect on Tuesday.

Brinson Bell urged counties to continue printing ballots in the days since Kennedy’s announcement because North Carolina has not received official notification.

“When this issue first came up, it probably would have been wise to say let’s put ourselves on hold until we have this board meeting rather than going full steam ahead,” said board member Kevin Lewis, a Republican. “That said, I think we have the time and resources to remove these candidates from the ballot if we exercise our discretion.”

In addition to Kennedy and Trump, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, Cornel West of the Justice For All Party, Randall Terry of the Constitution Party, Libertarian Chase Oliver and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are currently running for president in North Carolina.

The state Democratic Party sued the state committee in July to disqualify Kennedy from the ballot, but in early August a judge ruled that Kennedy could remain in office.

For a party to be on the ballot in North Carolina, far fewer signatures are required than for an individual. This was also the reason for Kennedy’s path in this state.

Polls show Kennedy was unlikely to make much of a difference in North Carolina, as he took support away from both Harris and Trump. But in a state where presidential elections are often decided by razor-thin margins—Trump won North Carolina by just over 1% of the vote in 2020—even small changes can matter.

Polls vary as to what exact impact Kennedy’s presence on the ballot would have on Trump and Harris.

A Focaldata poll earlier this month showed Trump and Harris neck and neck if voters had only those choices. However, if third-party candidates were included, Harris would be ahead of Trump with 3% of the vote. Kennedy received more votes than all other third-party candidates combined and appears to have mostly voters who would otherwise support Trump.

According to a mid-August poll by the New York Times and Sienna College, Harris is three points ahead of Trump in North Carolina. If Kennedy and other third-party candidates were included, the lead would also be three points.

According to the New York Times, some recent, high-quality polls showed Kennedy receiving more votes from Harris than from Trump.

In early August, the Cook Political Report found that Harris would have been two percentage points ahead of Trump if Kennedy had been on the ballot, but in a Trump-Harris matchup, she would only have a 1% lead.