RNC, North Carolina Republicans Sue Over State Guidance On Absentee Ballots

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 guidance to county election boards that an absentee ballot may be counted even if it isn’t submitted in a sealed container-return envelope.

It’s the latest RNC lawsuit targeting state voting procedures ahead of the 2024 race and third filed in the state over the past two weeks.

The plaintiffs argue the state board’s guidance directly conflicts with state election law on counting absentee ballots. Specifically, state law stipulates that an absentee ballot must, among other things, be received by the appropriate county board of elections in a sealed container-return envelope to be counted by that board.”

Before filing the lawsuit, the plaintiffs say they submitted a request in May for a declaratory ruling from the NCSBE on the matter. North Carolina law allows an aggrieved person to request a declaratory ruling from a state agency.

The agency responded in August, the complaint said, stating in part that while a second return envelope is required for the absentee ballot, the envelope doesn’t specifically have to be a container-return envelope, so long as it’s in a sealed envelope. 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 ruling and issue a declaratory judgment stating that the only type of envelope that qualifies as a container-return envelope under state law is an envelope that satisfies all of the law’s requirements.

The RNC has brought 14 anti-voting lawsuits challenging voter roll maintenance, canvassing absentee ballots and a host of other procedural issues that impact voting and elections. 

Read the lawsuit here.

Read more about the case here.