Judges in Michigan and North Carolina separately rejected RNC lawsuits on UOCAVA or overseas voting in US elections.
The RNC in Michigan challenged the rule by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson that voters who never resided in Michigan could cast their overseas ballot and have it count in Michigan.
The Michigan judge said the lawsuit was an attempt to “disenfranchise” voters.
The North Carolina judge said Republicans “presented no substantial evidence” of the fraud they claimed they were trying to prevent.
According to CNN:
The RNC sued in Michigan and North Carolina to block state policies that allow for citizens abroad to cast ballots in those states if their parents (or, in Michigan, their spouse) resided in those states before leaving the country, even if the voters themselves never lived there.
Judge Sima Patel of Michigan’s Court of Claims said in her ruling that Republicans were too late in filing their lawsuit, calling it “11th hour attempt to disenfranchise” spouses and children of former Michigan residents who now live abroad.
In North Carolina, Wake County Superior Court Judge John W. Smith denied the RNC’s request for an emergency court order that would require election officials to set aside ballots from overseas voters who hadn’t themselves lived in the state.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson cheered the news.
Jocelyn Benson: A win for voters and democracy today in Michigan! A federal court upheld our work to ensure military service members and their families serving overseas can vote, rejecting the RNC lawsuit as an “11th hour attempt to disenfranchise these electors.”
A win for voters and democracy today in Michigan!
A federal court upheld our work to ensure military service members and their families serving overseas can vote, rejecting the RNC lawsuit as an “11th hour attempt to disenfranchise these electors.”
You can read the entire… pic.twitter.com/Hg6iGXxjtJ
— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) October 21, 2024
Our Patty McMurray responded: As long as you’re an actual person, and a U.S. citizen, you have every right to vote. The lawsuit was about preventing fraudulent votes. It had NOTHING to do with “military voters” or their families—quite the opposite in fact. The lawsuit was to PROTECT their sacred vote from being canceled by nefarious individuals or
groups by using a system that makes it easy to cheat. But Jocelyn Michelle Benson knows that.
As long as you’re an actual person, and a U.S. citizen, you have every right to vote. The lawsuit was about preventing fraudulent votes. It had NOTHING to do with “military voters” or their families—quite the opposite in fact. The lawsuit was to PROTECT their sacred vote from…
— PattyMI (@PattyLovesTruth) October 21, 2024
