Judges Reject GOP Overseas Ballot Challenges

As we head into the final weeks of the election season, the GOP is trying to make sure that everything will be on the up and up.

As part of that effort, the GOP was challenging the acceptance of some overseas ballots in Michigan and North Carolina, two key states for Donald Trump.

Their suits, however, have been rejected.

Not Happening

The GOP is claiming that both Michigan and North Carolina are accepting overseas ballots from voters who never lived in those jurisdictions.

Had the GOP been successful in this effort, thousands of ballots would have had to be examined to ensure they were legal.

However, judges rejected the cases.

In Michigan, Judge Sima Patel claimed the RNC waited too long to file the suit, and it was far too late in the process to start making changes now.

In her ruling, Judge Patel wrote, “A challenge could have been raised at any time after 2017, and should have at least been brought earlier in the year leading up to the general election, not 28 days before.”

In North Carolina, Judge John Smith ruled that the RNC was unlikely to win its suit based on the evidence, or lack thereof, presented, so the suit was rejected.

In his ruling, Judge Smith wrote, “This court has weighed the hypothetical possibility of harm to plaintiffs against the rights of the defendants and finds that on balance the equitable discretion of 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.”

The Harris campaign responded to the rulings, stating, “Across the country, Republicans are pulling out all the stops to block your vote, but Democrats are fighting back and we are winning.

“No matter how you vote, and especially if you are serving our country overseas, Democrats will stand up for your right to make your voice heard while Republicans try to silence you. Once again, we beat Trump in court, and once again, we will beat him at the ballot box in November.”

There is one more case pending in Pennsylvania, but I would expect much the same as judges have been finding reasons to reject these cases since Trump started filing them after the last election.

My general impression is that these judges want nothing to do with even remotely suggesting our elections are not on the up and up, so they dismiss the cases for the reasons given above or lack of standing.