Judges in Michigan and North Carolina on Monday rejected separate challenges by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to certain overseas votes in key battleground states.
The RNC alleged that both states improperly accepted overseas votes from people who had never lived in their jurisdictions.
In two separate rulings handed down Monday, the judges rejected requests by the RNC that could have called into question thousands of ballots.
Overseas voting is the latest battleground in Republican election litigation this term. This voting bloc, now made up primarily of Americans living overseas rather than uniformed military personnel, is increasingly seen as Democratic.
RNC challenges how states accept votes from citizens living abroad who have never lived in the country, as long as their parents were eligible to vote in the state before moving abroad Ta. Michigan also extends protection to spouses.
Michigan Judge Sima Patel ruled that the RNC waited too long to file its lawsuit, saying it would be “extremely difficult or extremely difficult to destroy contested ballots so close to Election Day.” “Impossible,” he wrote. Patel ruled that the state's guidelines on who can submit overseas ballots were legal in any case.
“The challenge could have been filed at any time after 2017, and should have been filed at least earlier in the year before the general election, rather than 28 days before,” Patel wrote. judgment.
Mr. Patel sided with state officials, but rejected requests for sanctions against the plaintiffs, made up of the RNC, the Michigan Republican Party and local clerks.
In North Carolina, Judge John Smith ruled that the RNC was unlikely to succeed in its lawsuit and denied the RNC's request for an injunction ahead of the upcoming election. Smith ruled that the RNC “did not present any evidence” that there was any wrongdoing.
“This court weighs the defendant's rights against the hypothetical possibility of harm to the plaintiff and, taken together, considers that the defendant's right to receive special treatment for an entire population based on unsubstantiated and speculative allegations… “There is no substantial evidence that this court's impartial discretion should not be invoked,” Smith wrote. his verdict.
The North Carolina Republican Party and two Republican voters also joined the lawsuit.
Another lawsuit challenging overseas voting in Pennsylvania is also pending.
The RNC is not involved in the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by six Republicans in the state, alleging that election officials failed to meet federal certification requirements for overseas votes. State officials say lawmakers misread federal election law and the measure is unnecessary.
A hearing on the lawmakers' request for an injunction will be held Friday, and a judge could rule at any time.
