Judge rules against RNC, keeps North Carolina ballot envelope challenge in federal court

A federal judge on Thursday refused the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) request to send its challenge to North Carolina’s absentee ballot guidance back to state court, likely ending the prospect of any changes for this year’s election.

U.S. District Judge Richard Myers in a two-page ruling said the State Board of Elections properly removed the case to federal court. The lawsuit will still move forward before Myers, but the pace means that the RNC’s demands for changes this election cycle are unlikely to prevail.

Republicans allege the election board’s guidance violates a state law requirement that absentee ballots be returned in a sealed, two-envelope package.  

The guidance enables county clerks to still count ballots when they are returned without that second, sealed envelope.
 
The additional envelope is new and came as part of North Carolina’s voter ID law passed last year. It is aimed at ensuring a voter can confidentially send in their identification paperwork. 

The RNC, its state arm and a voter sued the board of elections early last month in state court. The elections board began trying to move the case to federal court on Oct. 9.  

The state board contended a federal court had jurisdiction to take over the case because accepting Republicans’ position would force the board to violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  
 
“Defendants properly removed this action,” Myers wrote in his ruling. 

The Hill has reached out to the RNC for comment.

The lawsuit is one of multiple challenges Republicans have launched in North Carolina. 

Myers’s decision came two days after an appeals court similarly ruled against Republicans by allowing their challenge to 225,000 voter registrations in North Carolina to proceed before a federal judge. 

Last month, the RNC convinced a state appeals court to prohibit students and employees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill using a digital form of ID to vote. 

Republicans have so far failed, however, in their challenge to North Carolina’s overseas ballot rules.