Judge rejects Republican move to restrict overseas voting in Michigan

22/10/2024 12:05

        A judge in Michigan on Monday rejected an effort by the Republican Party to block some Americans who are living overseas from voting in the battleground state.
        
        The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit earlier this month arguing that election laws in the state improperly allowed U.S. citizens living abroad who had never lived in Michigan - but whose relatives had - to vote there.
        
        Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel said in a ruling that the language being challenged by Republicans was consistent with federal and state law. "There is no ground to invalidate it," Patel wrote.
        
        A U.S. citizen who never lived in the U.S. but who has a parent, legal guardian or spouse who last lived in Michigan is eligible to vote in the state so as long as the citizen has not registered or voted in another state, according to Michigan's secretary of state election officials manual.