North Carolina Court Denies RNC Bid to Block Certain Overseas Votes
A North Carolina judge on Monday denied the Republican National Committee’s request to disenfranchise certain military and overseas voters.
The state court rejected the RNC’s bid for a preliminary injunction, court records show. This means that individuals born overseas to parents or guardians who were last North Carolina residents will be allowed to vote in the November election.
If successful, this lawsuit may result in stricter requirements for overseas voters registered in North Carolina.
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Superior Court Judge John Smith determined that the RNC failed to present substantial evidence “of any instance where the harm that plaintiffs seek to prevent has ever ‘fraudulently’ occurred,” the decision said.
“…This court should not be invoked to treat an entire group of citizens differently based upon unsupported and speculative allegations for which there is not even a scintilla of substantive evidence.”
On Tuesday, the RNC and its co-plaintiffs appealed the denial of their motion for a preliminary injunction to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
Read more about the case here.
Previous update, Oct. 3
The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a new lawsuit against the North Carolina State Election Board, alleging officials are illegally permitting overseas voters who don’t reside in the state to participate in its elections.
The complaint filed Tuesday by the RNC and North Carolina Republican Party takes issue with how the board is applying North Carolina’s Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act (UMOVA), which allows for military members and U.S. citizens living abroad to vote in state and federal elections.
Federal law requires that states and territories allow certain citizens to register and vote absentee in federal elections. States like North Carolina have adopted their own laws for people covered under the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).
One provision of UMOVA allows individuals born overseas to parents or guardians who were North Carolina residents to vote in the state. These voters are not required to have lived in North Carolina or the U.S.
North Carolina also has a state version of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which requires a voter or an individual registering to vote to present certain identifying information, such as a driver’s license or the last four digits of their social security number. If the voter doesn’t have that information, they can vote using a provisional ballot.
The lawsuit alleges the state election board is incorrectly using state and federal law to extend voter qualifications to people living abroad who aren’t residents. It says the state election board’s guidance to county election officials advises that voters who never resided in North Carolina but are attempting to register to vote in the state are exempt from the HAVA requirement.
The plaintiffs point to guidance the board issued to county election clerks in September, which advised that state law exempts overseas voters from the HAVA requirement if the driver’s license or social security number fails to match across agency databases. Democracy Docket reached out to the state election board for comment.
An email sent in August from election board Executive Director Karen Bell, included as an exhibit in the complaint, to Henderson County Election Board member Linda Rebuck (R), explained that voters covered under UOCAVA are “expressly exempt” from the HAVA requirement by state statute.
“When a military or overseas citizen voter submits their ballot, neither federal nor state law requires them to provide ID when returning their ballot,” it said.
Republicans are asking a state court to declare that the North Carolina election board’s application of the law conflicts with how the state constitution defines eligible voters and is therefore unconstitutional.
They also want the court to void the guidance issued to clerks in September and block the board from accepting voter registration forms from individuals who don’t have the proper HAVA requirements. The plaintiffs want the election board to instruct county clerks to not process ballots returned by voters who never lived in the state.