RNC and North Carolina Republicans sue state over mail-in voting policies

The Republican National Committee (RNC), the North Carolina Republican Party and a voter are suing the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) over its instruction to county election boards to consider an absentee ballot even if it is not submitted in a sealed envelope.

It is the RNC’s latest lawsuit challenging state election procedures ahead of the 2024 election and the third filed in the state in the past two weeks.

Plaintiffs argue that the state board’s guidelines are in direct conflict with state election law regarding the counting of absentee ballots. Specifically, state law requires that, among other things, a vote cast by mail must be received by the appropriate county board of elections in a sealed envelope in order for that board to count it.”

Before filing the lawsuit, the plaintiffs filed a petition for declaratory relief with the NCSBE in May. Under North Carolina law, an injured person can seek declaratory relief from a state agency.

The agency responded in August, the complaint says, arguing, among other things, that while a second return envelope is required for mail-in ballots, that envelope does not necessarily have to be a container return envelope as long as it is sealed. The plaintiffs said state law is clear that ballots “must be placed in the container return envelope, which in turn must be sealed.”

The plaintiffs are asking a state court to reverse the NCSBE’s decision and issue a declaratory judgment holding that under state law, only an envelope type that meets all statutory requirements qualifies as a container return envelope.

The RNC has filed 14 election law lawsuits involving the maintenance of voter rolls, the counting of absentee ballots, and a number of other procedural issues affecting voting and elections.

Read the lawsuit here.

Read more about the case here.