RNC Files Michigan Lawsuit To Prevent Overseas Voters From Casting Ballots
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is challenging the ability of certain voters who live overseas but are U.S. citizens to cast a ballot in Michigan – a key battleground state in the 2024 election.
Tuesday’s complaint is the latest RNC and state GOP-backed complaint targeting U.S. voters who live overseas and vote absentee. Last week, the RNC sued the North Carolina State Election Board alleging officials are illegally permitting overseas voters who don’t live in the state to vote in its elections.
Both complaints stem from the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), a federal 1986 law that grants some U.S. citizens living overseas the right to vote. Recently, former President Donald Trump railed against the law, alleging without evidence on his Truth Social platform that Democrats will “use UOCAVA to get ballots, a program that emails ballots overseas without any citizenship check or verification of identity, whatsoever.”
The Michigan lawsuit, filed against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) and Director of Elections Jonathan Brater, takes particular issue with Benson’s election guidance to county election clerks, which says a U.S. citizen “who has never resided in the United States but who has a parent, legal guardian, or spouse who was last domiciled in Michigan is eligible to vote in Michigan as long as the citizen has not registered or voted in another state.”
The plaintiffs argue this guidance conflicts with how Michigan’s constitution defines an eligible voter which says: “Every citizen of the United States who has attained the age of 21 years, who has resided in this state six months, and who meets the requirements of local residence provided by law, shall be an elector and qualified to vote in any election except as otherwise provided in this constitution.”
Overseas voters who are covered under the federal UOCAVA include those who reside outside the U.S. and are “qualified to vote in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States.”
The plaintiffs argue that while UOCAVA “preempts Michigan constitutional and statutory law to the extent they require an elector to presently reside in Michigan to vote,” the federal law “does not overrule all residency requirements,” they said.
The lawsuit asks a state court to rule that Benson’s guidance is unconstitutional and order her to rescind it. The plaintiffs also want Benson to reject ballots cast by overseas voters who’ve never lived in Michigan.