GOP groups urge federal court to allow ballot envelope lawsuit to move forward

State and national Republican groups are urging a federal judge to allow their ballot-envelope lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections to move forward.

The elections board has filed a motion to dismiss the case.

“The North Carolina General Assembly has enacted several laws intended to prevent tampering with absentee ballots by requiring that absentee voters seal their ballots in container-return envelopes before submitting the ballots to county boards of elections. The North Carolina State Board of Elections … has advised the county boards that they may disregard the clear requirements of those laws and count absentee ballots that are not returned in sealed container-return envelopes,” Republican lawyers responded in a court filing Wednesday. “Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit to stop the NCSBE from disregarding the unambiguous requirements of North Carolina law.”

“The NCSBE has filed a motion to dismiss this case, arguing that the Board has done nothing wrong,” Republican lawyers added. “First, it claims that the state absentee-voting laws do not mean what they say. Second, the NCSBE claims that federal law prevents it from enforcing the state law.”

“But just as it has misinterpreted state law, the NCSBE also has misinterpreted federal law. Therefore, the Court should reject the NCSBE’s incorrect interpretations of state and federal law and deny the motion to dismiss,” the court filing continued.

US Chief District Judge Richard Myers issued an Oct. 31 order denying Republicans’ request to send the case back to state court.

The State Board of Elections and a retirees group working with Democratic operative Marc Elias’ law firm had both opposed returning the case to the state court system.

Myers ruled that the elections board “properly removed this action” from state court to federal court. The board believed that complying with Republican demands in the lawsuit would have violated the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. Because of the role of federal law in the case, a federal judge has jurisdiction to address the GOP’s complaints, Myers ruled.

The North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, working with the Elias Law Group, intervened in the ballot envelope case to defend the state elections board’s actions.

The Republican National Committee and North Carolina Republican Party filed the suit in state court. The state elections board moved the case to federal court on Oct. 11.

The suit arose from the State Board of Elections revising its Numbered Memo 2021-03, which implements various laws governing absentee ballots.

According to an RNC news release, the revised memo stated that absentee ballots do not need to be returned in sealed container-return envelopes to be counted. This policy directly conflicts with the statutes specifying that they must be returned in sealed container-return envelopes, GOP groups argued.

The RNC said the policy violated North Carolina state law and weakened absentee ballot safeguards.

“This decision by the NCSBE is inconsistent with state law and diminishes protections for absentee ballots,” said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley. “We have filed suit to uphold election integrity and ballot safeguards. State law lays out clear requirements, and the NCSBE must follow them — we will continue to fight for election integrity in the Old North State.”

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