The Republican National Committee has filed a new lawsuit against the North Carolina State Election Board, accusing officials of unlawfully allowing overseas voters who are not state residents to participate in North Carolina’s elections.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by both the RNC and the North Carolina Republican Party, challenges how the board is implementing North Carolina’s Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act (UMOVA), which grants voting rights to military members and U.S. citizens living abroad in state and federal elections.
While federal law mandates that states and territories enable certain citizens to register and vote absentee in federal elections, states like North Carolina have their own laws which extend these rights to individuals covered under the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). The dispute in this case centers on one provision of UMOVA, which allows individuals born overseas to North Carolina residents to vote in state elections, even if those individuals have never lived in the state or in the U.S.
The lawsuit highlights the conflict between this provision and the state’s version of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which requires voters or individuals registering to vote to present identifying information, such as a driver’s license or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Voters who lack this information may cast provisional ballots. According to the complaint, the state election board has been improperly applying both state and federal laws to extend voter qualifications to people living abroad who do not meet residency requirements.
The plaintiffs allege that the state election board has been issuing guidance to county election officials that exempts certain overseas voters from HAVA’s identification requirements. This guidance, issued in September, advises that if a voter’s driver’s license or Social Security number fails to match agency databases, the voter is still permitted to register. The lawsuit includes an email from the board’s Executive Director, Karen Bell, stating that UOCAVA voters are expressly exempt from providing ID when submitting ballots, both under federal and state law.
Republicans are urging a state court to declare the election board’s interpretation of the law unconstitutional, arguing it contradicts how the North Carolina constitution defines eligible voters. The lawsuit seeks to nullify the guidance issued in September and prevent the election board from processing voter registration forms or ballots from individuals who do not meet HAVA’s requirements. Additionally, the plaintiffs want county clerks to be instructed not to count ballots from voters who have never resided in North Carolina.
Read the lawsuit here.
