A judge in Michigan rejected an effort by the Republican Party to bar some Americans living abroad from voting in the controversial state, according to Reuters.
The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit earlier this month, arguing that the state’s election laws improperly allowed US citizens living abroad who had never lived in Michigan but whose relatives had resided there to vote.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel stated that the language challenged by Republicans complied with federal and state law.
There is no ground to invalidate it.
A US citizen who has never lived in the US but has a parent, legal guardian or spouse who last resided in Michigan is eligible to vote in the state as long as they are not registered to vote in another state, according to the state’s secretary of elections manual.
However, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said citizens living in Michigan should not have “their votes cancelled by those who’ve never lived in the state.”
About 2.9 million US citizens living abroad were eligible to vote in 2020. However, less than 8 per cent of them did so, according to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which helps military personnel and other US citizens living overseas manage elections.
