Judge rejects Republican move to restrict overseas voting in Michigan

By Jasper Ward

(Reuters) -A Michigan judge 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 on Monday 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 as long as the citizen has not registered or voted in another state, according to Michigan's secretary of state election officials manual.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said citizens living in Michigan should not have "their votes canceled by those who've never lived in the state." 

The RNC said on Tuesday that it will appeal the decision.

"We are fighting to protect every legal vote, including from military and overseas citizens, to not be canceled by ineligible votes," said Claire Zunk, the communications director for elections integrity at the RNC.

Some 2.9 million U.S. citizens living abroad were eligible to vote in 2020, though fewer than 8% of them did, according to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, a government entity that helps military members and other U.S. citizens living abroad with election logistics.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Edwina Gibbs and Jonathan Oatis)