A judge on Monday rejected a Republican challenge to the eligibility of a small number of military and overseas voters to register for the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel said in a written opinion that the Oct. 8 lawsuit was filed too close to Election Day. While that alone would bar the lawsuit, the election practices the GOP are challenging are "consistent with federal and state law, and the Michigan Constitution," the judge said.
The Michigan GOP, the Republican National Committee, and Chesterfield Township Clerk Cindy Berry sued Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and her elections director, alleging they are unlawfully allowing voting by overseas residents who have never been Michigan residents. Though numbers are not available from state officials, the concern mainly relates to a small number of voting-age children and spouses of overseas residents. The Federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act supersedes state law in allowing citizens who are not currently residents of the state to vote. But the lawsuit argued that the federal law does not eliminate residency requirements entirely, and allowing voting in Michigan elections by those who have never lived in Michigan violates the state constitution. The suit argued this is especially harmful to Republican candidates, since overseas voters skew Democratic.
Also Monday, a judge in North Carolina rejected a similar GOP challenge there related to overseas and military voters, CNN reported.
"Frivolous lawsuits like these, filed just weeks before Election Day, make it harder for the state’s election officials to do their jobs and threaten to interfere with our secure and accurate process," Benson said in a news release.
