Federal and state courts have ruled against Republicans in North Carolina election cases

Republican efforts to block certain North Carolina voters from participating in this year’s election have so far been thwarted by federal and state courts.

The North Carolina Republican Party and the Republican National Committee had hoped to get about 225,000 registered voters removed from the state’s rolls or at least have them vote provisionally. A ruling by the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals made their quest seem even less likely to succeed.

The case began in state court, but the North Carolina State Board of Elections and the Democratic National Committee were able to move the matter to federal court.

A Trump-appointed federal district court judge, Richard Myers II, dismissed one of the GOP claims but sent a remaining constitutional claim back to state court for further review. The Fourth Circuit reversed and sent it back to Myers.

In their original complaint, filed in late August, the NCGOP and RNC argued that the state board of elections violated federal law and the state constitution by failing to remove 225,000 voters who registered with a faulty form.

The outdated form asked — but did not require — a registrant to provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number, information required by federal law. The State Board of Elections has since updated the registration forms.

As for the records in question, the election commission determined that voters could not be removed from the rolls so close to this year’s election, as prohibited by federal law. Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, there is a 90-day “quiet period” before an election in which voters cannot be removed from the rolls.

In addition, the election commission said voters should provide such identifying information when, for example, requesting an absentee ballot and must provide acceptable forms of photo ID when voting by mail or in person.

The GOP plaintiffs also argued that the state election board violated equal rights protections in the North Carolina Constitution by either removing the 225,000 registered voters or requiring them to vote this year with provisional ballots.

Meanwhile, a North Carolina appeals court panel rejected a Republican process relating to absentee ballots submitted by eligible overseas voters who never lived in the state.

The lawsuit is part of a legal strategy designed by the RNC and deployed in other battleground states.