Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee filed lawsuits in battleground states Michigan and North Carolina. The suits targeted overseas voters, challenging the validity of their ballots if they had never lived in the two states. However, on Monday, judges in both states made their final decisions, rejecting the lawsuits. 

US Overseas Voting Laws

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) came into effect in 1986, nearly 4 decades ago. It enables military members, their families, and other U.S. citizens living abroad to vote in federal elections via absentee ballots. In the 2020 general election, over 938,000 UOCAVA voters had their ballots counted.

Since its establishment states' rules for overseas voting have been generally accepted without much debate. This is mainly due to the connection to military service members. With more civilian citizens abroad than military citizens, overseas voters are a potentially crucial segment of voters.

According to the RNC, however, some voters do not meet state residency requirements. For example, state rules in North Carolina permit absentee voting for US citizens born abroad if their parent or legal guardian used to reside there.

Michigan rules are along the same lines, the state allows voting by U.S. citizens who have never lived in the U.S. if a parent, legal guardian, or spouse was last domiciled in Michigan. However, the Republican National Committee does not agree with these terms. Michael Whatley, chairman of the committee, presented their stance in a statement,

“North Carolinians and Michiganders should not have their votes canceled by those who’ve never lived in the state in the first place – plain and simple.”

"There is no ground to invalidate it," — Judge Patel.

In response to the suit, Judge Sima Patel of Michigan’s Court of Claims ruled that the disputed law was in line with both federal and state laws. She also noted that the Republicans waited too long to file their lawsuit. Patel referred to their efforts as a last-minute attempt to block the voting rights of spouses and children of former Michigan residents now living abroad.

In North Carolina, Wake County Superior Court Judge John W. Smith similarly rejected the RNC’s suit. He noted that the challenged voting policies had bipartisan support and that the RNC provided no evidence of voter fraud.