A Michigan judge on Monday rejected a Republican effort to set aside ballots from some overseas voters who cast their votes in the key Midwestern battleground.
Judge Sima Patel wrote that the Republican effort came too close to Election Day, calling it an “11th hour attempt to disenfranchise” voters who include the families of those “serving our country in the armed forces and diplomatic corps.”
“The federal government requires states to permit absent uniformed services and overseas voters, as well as their spouses and dependents, to apply for and vote,” Patel wrote.
Patel’s order came after a rushed hearing was held last Thursday, just nine days after the Michigan Republican Party and Republican National Committee filed the lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The lawsuit challenged instructions allowing the spouses and adult children of overseas Michigan residents to vote in the state as long as they’re not registered elsewhere.
An attorney for the state last week called the lawsuit “simply devoid of legal merit,” but said even if that were not the case, it’s too close to the election to implement the changes sought by Republicans.
Michigan, which has 15 electoral votes, is one of the seven battleground states that could prove decisive in the race for the White House, giving the legal battle over overseas voters added weight.
Court arguments focused on the children and spouses of military, diplomatic and other service personnel overseas. Lawyers for the Republican Party argued that the rules allow people to cast votes in Michigan even if they’ve never lived there. Patel appeared skeptical at the hearing.
As GOP attorney Jonathan Koch argued that the party’s interpretation of the law did not “penalize” service personnel who move overseas, Patel interrupted, asking if in fact the opposite was true.
“Doesn’t your interpretation penalize the spouses and dependent children who may have been born overseas and matured, reached age 18 overseas?” Patel asked Koch. “Doesn’t it penalize the children of overseas service people?”
“I don’t think I would use the word ‘penalize,'” he said.
“It’s your word,” Patel said, laughing.
The lawsuit asked Patel to order Benson’s office “to segregate ballots cast by overseas voters who have never resided in Michigan including ballots of overseas voters … [to] ascertain the scope of the constitutional violation and whether it [a]ffects the election’s outcome.”
Benson’s office also asked for the lawyers who filed the suit, which her office called “frivolous,” to be sanctioned. Patel rejected that request.
The case is among several filed by Republican-aligned lawyers in recent weeks in Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina challenging the legitimacy of some overseas ballots. The effort prompted a group of congressional Democrats to write to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Oct. 11, asking that he ensure that “overseas military personnel and Americans abroad retain their right to participate fully in U.S. elections.”
