The Independent View: RNC Sues Battleground States Over Absentee Ballots And Voter Rolls

The Republican National Committee (RNC) Lawyers are going State-to-State, seeking to influence what Laws and Procedures will Govern the November Election.

The RNC, which has been overhauled with Trump Loyalists, is reviving Failed Legal Arguments from 2020, as it seeks to get involved in Dozens of State and Federal Lawsuits. The Cases are in all the Major Battleground States for 2024, but also in Deep-Red and Deep-Blue States.

Some of the biggest ongoing Cases target how Absentee Ballots are Processed, and who should be Removed from Voter Rolls. These Cases could reduce the number of Voters in November, and fewer Absentee Ballots Counted.

In some Cases, the RNC joins with a State Party to Sue a State or County Official. In others, the RNC seeks to Intervene to Support or Oppose a Case that an Advocacy Group brought First.

The RNC also Files Friend-of-the-Court Briefs, seeks to get involved in Rulemaking Processes, or Announces when it seeks Public Records as part of its own Investigation.

The Cases often draw from the same False Information that has fueled the Myth that the 2020 Election was Stolen from Trump through Fraud. Lawyers have argued that RNC must be involved in Lawsuits in order to make sure that People can be Confident in the Outcome of the Election, Trust the Process, and inspire other Republicans to turn out to Vote.

“Their legal arguments are premised on misinformation and misrepresentations about election administration, the way that elections work, and election outcomes,” Eliza Sweren-Becker, Senior Counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, which is Representing an Opponent in RNC's Lawsuit over Michigan's Voter Rolls. “They are in large part fueled by the election denial movement and lies about the 2020 election.”

The RNC has been providing Updates on its Litigation Program for months through ProtectTheVote.com, a Website that it also used in conjunction with the Trump Campaign in 2020, to rally Supporters as they challenged Biden's Victory in Court. Judges, including Republican-leaning Ones appointed by Trump, overwhelmingly Rejected those Arguments.

“The RNC legal team will be working tirelessly to ensure that elections officials follow the rules in administering elections," RNC Chief Counsel Charlie Spies said in an April 19th Statement. "We will aggressively take them to court if they don’t follow rules or try to change them at the last minute.”

In Michigan and Nevada, the RNC is asking Courts to require the States to Remove more Registered Voters from the Rolls, under the National Voter Registration Act, a 1993 Law that requires States to wait years before Removing Registered Voters from their Files. But the Law states: If a Voter Misses Two Genersl Elections, they can be removed, after notifying them. After One General Election, they can be set as Inactive, after notifying them.

The RNC argued that there are simply too many People on Voter Registration Lists, including some Counties with more Registered Voters than Voters adults living there, and that means that the States are Not cleaning their Voter Roles.

Michigan and Nevada Secretaries of State, both Democrats, have asked Courts to Dismiss the RNC’s Cases. Both States say they have substantial Programs to Remove Ineligible People from Voter Rolls, and that the RNC is Wrong.

Michigan said the RNC’s Lawsuit uses “a questionable interpretation of Census data,” and provided its own Calculations showing that No County in Michigan has more Active Registered Voters than potential Voters.

“Let’s call this what it is: a PR campaign masquerading as a meritless lawsuit filled with baseless accusations that seek to diminish people’s faith in the security of our elections,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) said in a Statement. “Shame on anyone who abuses the legal process to sow seeds of doubt in our democracy.”

Nevada Accused the RNC of using “statistical sleight of hand” that compares Voter Registration Numbers from 2024, in the growing Sstate to Population Data from 2020.

Celina Stewart, Chief Counsel for the League of Women Voters, said attempts to Purge Voters from the Rolls, are often a way to keep Black and Brown People from Voting. “What it comes down to is the election for president in this country could come down to a handful of states,” Stewart said. “I think Michigan and Nevada are part of that handful.”

In Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, RNC lLwyers have targeted when Absentee Ballots can be Requested, Submitted, Counted, and Fixed. In Three of those States, the RNC tried to Defend Voting Restrictions that Republican Legislatures Passed, but Liberal Groups want to Block.

A Record number of Americans Voted-by-Mail in 2020, after Democratic and Republican States alike made it easier to Fill-Out Ballots Remotel,y during the height of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Unfounded Allegations of Mail Ballot Fraud then became a popular Rallying Cry among Trump Supporters who believe the Election was Stolen.

The RNC is seeking to throw-out a Llawsuit in Georgia, that a Union brought in order to give Voters more time to Request an Absentee Ballot. At stake is whether Georgia Voters can have an additional Four Days to request Absentee Ballots.

Georgia’s sweeping Election Lw overhaul from 2021, said Voters could only Request the Ballots up to 11 days before the Election. The Union argues that Violates a Provision of the Voting Rights Act, allowing People to Request Absentee Ballots up to Seven Days before an Election. The RNC says the Federal Law is Unconstitutional.

A Federal Court in North Carolina said the RNC could Not Intervene in a Lawsuit Challenging a Law enacted in October, 2023, that requires Absentee Ballots to be received by the time Polls Close on Election Day. The Law also makes it easier to Challenge whether a Person’s Absentee Ballot can be Accepted.

The RNC said the Law provides “appropriate safeguards and transparency while still offering voters ample opportunities to cast a ballot” and said the Lawsuit should Not continue “without the participation of one of the nation’s two major political parties.”

A State Court in Wisconsin, said the RNC and its Affiliates couldn’t Intervene to Oppose a Lawsuit there, either. In the Suit, the Progressive Organization Priorities USA challenges, among other things, a State requirement that Absentee Ballots be returned by 8p.m. on Election Day. The Wisconsin Law also says that in the Event an Absentee Ballot has a Defect, the Ballot must be Cured, or Fixed, by that same Deadline.

The RNC argued that the Laws in question “protect Wisconsin’s elections and allow voters, groups, and candidates alike to trust and navigate the democratic process.”

In a Federal Court in Mississippi, the RNC joined the State Party to Sue a County Elections Official, who is a Republican, over a Law allowing Ballots Postmarked by Election Day, to be Counted up to Five days after the Election. The Ddefendant, Justin Wetzel, has asked for the Case to be Thrown-Out.

So has Secretary of State Michael Watson (R). He wrote in a Court Filing in March, that the RNC’s “entire case rests on a fiction that Mississippi law permits mail-in absentee voters to ‘cast’ their votes after Election Day. But the Mississippi Statute allows no such thing.”

The RNC and its Allies’ involvement in Lawsuits in: Arizona, Colorado, Michigan and Washington, seek to require Election Workers to make sure Voters’ Signatures on their Absentee Ballots, match specific Signatures-on-File with the Elections Office.

The vast Majority of States perform some sort of Signature Verification on Absentee Ballots, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, but States have been implementing Stricter Laws requiring Voters to provide Additional Identifying Information, such as a Social Security number, a Drivers License number, a Copy of an Identification Document, or even a Notary’s Signature.

In Colorado and Washington, an Advocacy Group called Vet Voice Foundation Filed Lawsuits asking Courts to Stop State Officials from performing Signature Matching, saying that Signature matching Disproportionately Disenfranchises Young Voters, Voters-of-Color, and People living in certain Counties.

Vera Ortegon, an RNC National Committeewoman, is Intervening in the Colorado Case. Her Lawyers wrote in Court Documents that She tries to Increase Voter Turnout in Colorado and Voters “who cannot rely on the signature verification requirement may not trust Colorado’s election procedures, and may ultimately lose interest in voting.”

A Court in Washington declined to let the RNC Intervene in a Case.

Sweren-Becker, from the Brennan Center, said Courts "should be extraordinarily skeptical of these claims and quickly and strongly dismiss them where they find that the evidence is lacking, and I think that will be in the vast majority of these cases."