Courts in Michigan and North Carolina on Monday rejected efforts by Republicans to disqualify the ballots of certain out-of-state voters.
Both cases targeted people who never lived in the state but were born abroad to parents who were residents of the state. The Michigan case also targeted the spouses of military and overseas voters.
A state judge in Michigan dismissed the Republicans’ case because it was filed so late — less than a month before the Nov. 5 presidential election. But the judge also ruled that the election language that allowed these voters to cast their ballots complied with both state and federal law, as well as the Michigan Constitution.
The state GOP and the Republican National Committee were among the plaintiffs who filed both cases, which were filed as part of a broader legal strategy against overseas ballots in presidential battleground states ahead of the Nov. 5 elections.
The RNC did not immediately return requests for comment.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson criticized the lawsuit in her state as frivolous and described Monday’s ruling as a victory for election integrity.
“This baseless lawsuit targeted the voting rights of American citizens and their families living abroad, including the children of active-duty military personnel,” she said in a statement. “It represents a new low in the ongoing public relations campaign to sow doubt about the security of Michigan’s elections.”
In North Carolina, a judge hearing a case in Wake County Superior Court denied a preliminary injunction sought by Republicans against the state Board of Elections.
The decision allows people who have never lived in the state but were born abroad to parents or guardians who were North Carolina residents to vote as usual in the November presidential election.
Republicans argued that North Carolina allows these “never residents” to vote under a 2011 state law that ignores the state constitution’s requirement that voters be residents of the state. They claim that these ballots could be part of an elaborate scheme to steal the election, a claim for which there is no evidence.
In the decision issued Monday, the judge said there is “absolutely no evidence” that such fraud has occurred in North Carolina and that Republicans have failed to identify even one case linked to the group of voters they targeted .
The Democratic National Committee intervened in the North Carolina case, telling the court that many of the affected voters are the children of U.S. military personnel stationed abroad. It argued that the 11th hour legal filing regarding a law passed more than 13 years ago was aimed at sowing distrust in this year’s elections.
In Michigan, the judge noted that the language targeted by Republicans had been in effect since 2017.
“A challenge could have been filed anytime after 2017, and at a minimum should have been filed earlier in the year leading up to the general election, and not 28 days earlier,” said Judge Sima G. Patel of the Michigan Court of Claims in the statement. issued on Monday.