Courts in Michigan and North Carolina on Monday rejected separate lawsuits from the Republican National Committee that sought to ensure only individuals who have actually stepped foot in the states can participate in elections there.
The lawsuits, both brought in part by the RNC, took “issue with how the states apply the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which requires states to allow certain overseas citizens … to register and vote absentee,” as The Federalist previously reported. The lawsuits alleged that election officials in the states are violating their respective constitutions by opening the door for individuals who have never resided in these states to vote there.
In the Michigan case, plaintiffs, including the RNC and the state GOP, specifically challenged what they alleged to be “unlawful instruction” from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s Election Officials Manual which says that “a United States citizen who has never resided in the United States but who has a parent, legal guardian, or spouse who was last domiciled in Michigan” to vote in the state “as long as the citizen has not registered or voted in another state.”
In her ruling on this case, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel essentially argued that plaintiffs filed the suit too late. Patel sided with, as she referred to them, the already “busy” election official defendants, suggesting they should not be expected to “create an entirely new process” to separate ballots “issued to members of the subject group who have
never resided in Michigan and
