Republicans have lost ballot challenges in Michigan and North Carolina, two key swing states in the presidential election.
On Monday, a judge in Michigan dismissed Republican attempts to stop some foreign residents from voting. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel wrote that a Republican challenge was too close to the election.
“It would be extremely difficult or impossible for defendants to design and carry out a program to reject potentially thousands of [ ballots] at this time,” Patel wrote, especially given the “myriad tasks in the final days leading up to a general election.”
In addition, he found that the law being challenged was “consistent with federal and state law, and the Michigan Constitution.”
The Republican National Committee (RNC) claimed that Michigan had granted voting rights to overseas residents who had never lived in Michigan. The case mostly involved the spouses and voting-age children of Michigan residents serving in the military overseas.
Patel ruled that their voting rights are protected under the Federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
Voters arrive at a polling station in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 5. Republicans are seeking to limit overseas voters in the state.
Grant Baldwin/Getty Images
“At any given time, tens of thousands of United States citizens (including Michigan residents) live abroad, serving our country in the armed forces and diplomatic corps. Others live abroad for civilian purposes,” Patel wrote.
“Sometimes, spouses and dependents accompany these overseas United States citizens, sacrificing for the good of their families. And sometimes these spouses and dependents leave the United States before registering to vote, or are born and raised overseas, reaching the age of suffrage without ever residing in this state or country. Congress protects the right of these citizens to vote, as does the Michigan Legislature.”
However, he refused to impose sanctions on the RNC for taking the case.
“Plaintiffs’ complaint was not devoid of arguable legal merit. They raised a constitutional challenge to the language selected by defendants to explain the statutory qualifications of electors. This was an issue of great public importance. Moreover, a claim is not frivolous simply because it fails,” he wrote.
Republican groups filed lawsuits in swing states such as Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania questioning the legitimacy of overseas ballots from United States citizens, including military personnel.
In North Carolina, Wake County Superior Court Judge John W. Smith refused a request for an emergency court order to prevent some overseas workers from voting.
Smith wrote that North Carolina law protects the rights of overseas voters, and the RNC’s lawyers “have presented no substantial evidence of any instance where the harm that plaintiffs seek to prevent has ever ‘fraudulently’ occurred.”
Newsweek reached out to the RNC and state election officials in Michigan and North Carolina via email for comment.
In a statement, Vice President Kamala Harris‘ election campaign used the rulings to accuse Republicans of “pulling out all the stops to block your vote.”
In response to a lawsuit in Pennsylvania filed by several Republican congressmen, five House Democrats, including representatives Pat Ryan of New York and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaking out against those challenging the Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
