State judges in Michigan and North Carolina on Monday rejected the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) separate challenges to certain overseas ballots in the key swing states.
The RNC alleged the two states were improperly accepting overseas ballots from people who never lived in their jurisdictions.
In two separate rulings handed down on Monday, judges rejected the RNC’s requests that could’ve called thousands of ballots into question.
Overseas voting has become the latest battleground in Republicans’ election lawsuits this cycle. The voting bloc is viewed as increasingly Democratic as it now primarily comprises U.S. citizens living abroad, rather than uniformed servicemembers.
The RNC challenged how the states accept ballots from citizens living abroad who never lived there, as long as their parents were eligible to vote in the state before moving overseas. Michigan also extends the protections to spouses.
In Michigan, Judge Sima Patel ruled that the RNC waited too long to bring its case, writing that it would be “extremely difficult or impossible” to set aside the challenged ballots so close to Election Day. The state’s guidance about who could submit an overseas ballot was legal anyway, Patel ruled.
“A challenge could have been raised at any time after 2017, and should have at least been brought earlier in the year leading up to the general election, not 28 days before,” Patel wrote in the ruling.
Though she sided with state officials, Patel declined their request to sanction the plaintiffs, which comprised the RNC, the Michigan Republican Party and a local clerk.
In North Carolina, Judge John Smith refused the RNC’s request for an injunction in advance of the upcoming election, finding the RNC was unlikely to succeed in its lawsuit. Smith ruled that the RNC had “not presented any evidence” that fraud occurred.
“This court has weighed the hypothetical possibility of harm to plaintiffs against the rights of the defendants and finds that on balance the equitable discretion of this court should not be invoked to treat an entire group of citizens differently based upon unsupported and speculative allegations for which there is not even a scintilla of substantive evidence,” Smith wrote in his ruling.
That suit was joined by the North Carolina Republican Party and two Republican voters.
Another lawsuit challenging overseas ballots in Pennsylvania remains pending.
The RNC is not involved in that case, which was filed by six Republican congressmen from the state and claims election officials aren’t meeting federal verification requirements for overseas ballots. State officials there contend the congressmen are misreading federal election law and the steps are not required.
A hearing on the lawmakers’ request for an injunction was held Friday, and the judge could rule anytime.
