A federal appeals court blocked a GOP effort to challenge 225,000 voter registrations in North Carolina that they claimed were made without an ID requirement. 

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP) filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections claiming voters were registered using a registration form that did not require identification such as an ID or Social Security number. The suit claimed that allowing people on voter rolls without identification violated the Help America Vote Act.

The case was sent to a federal court by the State Board of Elections, but on Oct. 17, Chief District Judge Richard Myers ruled that parts of the case be moved back to the state court. 

But in a Tuesday ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his decision — meaning the case will remain in federal court where Myers will determine how it proceeds.

DEMS NEED TO RAMP UP EARLY VOTING EFFORTS TO MATCH GOP MOMENTUM IN NORTH CAROLINA: ANALYST

The reversal serves as a blow for the Republican plaintiffs who supported Myers’ efforts to return the case to the state court. 

In the ruling, Circuit Judge Nicole Berner said that sending the case back to the state court was “improper.”

GOP CHALLENGES TO OVERSEAS BALLOTING RULES STYMIED IN TWO KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES

“The State Board refused to perform Plaintiffs’ requested act—striking certain registered voters from North Carolina’s voter rolls—on the ground that doing so within 90 days of a federal election would violate provisions of Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Berner wrote.

Absentee ballots are prepared to be mailed at the Wake County Board of Elections on Sept. 17, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina.  (Allison Joyce)

“We are not convinced that defendants conceded to a violation of HAVA, but we need not reach that issue. Defendants argue that HAVA Subsection (a)(2)(A) actually prohibits them from removing the voters in question rather than requiring them to do so,” the decision read.

Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the Brazilian who was charged along with her Virginia employer in connection with the murders of his wife and an unknown man in February 2023, has pleaded guilty to a lesser crime, according to local news.

The then-22-year-old au pair and Brendan Banfield, a husband and the father of a then-4-year-old daughter, are accused of killing Christine Banfield — Brendan’s wife and Fairfax County NICU employee — and Joseph Ryan, the 38-year-old man who showed up at the Banfields’ home armed with a knife, in Herndon, Virginia, in February 2023.

Magalhaes, now 24, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday morning, according to FOX 5 D.C. She was scheduled to stand trial in November.

She was initially arrested in October 2023, about eight months after the killings, when authorities charged her with aggravated murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

AFFLUENT VIRGINIA HUSBAND, NANNY CHARGED WITH MURDERS IN MANSION LOVE TRIANGLE

Virginia authorities arrested Banfield, a 39-year-old IRS employee, in September, more than a year after the murders took place. He is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

Banfield faces a potential life prison sentence for the alleged crimes, while Magalhaes faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for the manslaughter charge, according to FOX 5.

Prosecutors allege the murders stemmed from a scheme orchestrated by Banfield and Magalhaes, who were in a romantic relationship at the time of the crime and for months afterward, before their arrests.

AFFLUENT VIRGINIA SUBURB ROCKED BY MANSION MURDER MYSTERY AS NANNY FACES TRIAL

Magalhaes was charged with second-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a crime. (Instagram)

Ryan’s connection to the family or their au pair remains unclear.

“On Feb. 24, 2023, I stood in the middle of a cul-de-sac street in Fairfax County and described the deaths of two persons inside of a residential home. Now, 570 days later, we know the deaths of Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield are, in fact, murders,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said during a September press conference.

VIRGINIA AU PAIR MURDER: FETISH PLOT, AFFAIR, GUN RANGE TIED TO DOUBLE HOMICIDE AT HOME, PROSECUTORS REVEAL

When police responded to a 911 call from the residence that day, they found Christine with stab wounds to the neck and Ryan with fatal gunshot wounds in the upstairs bedroom of the home. Authorities took Christine to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, Davis said.

Brendan Banfield is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.  (Fairfax Co. PD)

Officials recovered a knife and two firearms from the scene.

VIRGINIA AU PAIR CHARGED IN MAN’S MURDER AT HOME OF DOUBLE HOMICIDE: POLICE

“We know Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of the murders,” Davis said during the September press conference. “I will not describe our victim, Joseph Ryan’s, involvement with anyone in the case at the moment because this investigation continues.”

Christine Banfield was stabbed to death in the bedroom of her Fairfax County, Virginia, home. (Facebook)

Initially, Magalhaes told police that she and Banfield saw an unknown man, Ryan, holding Christine at knifepoint on the morning the murders took place. She allegedly described him as an intruder. Ryan was apparently fully clothed while Christine was naked in the main bedroom of the house.

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It remains unclear exactly what transpired inside the home that Friday morning, but Magalhaes and Brendan apparently both admitted to shooting Ryan while the man was holding a knife to Christine.

A framed photo of Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes and the mistress’s lingerie were found in the room where the double homicide occurred, according to prosecutors. (Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office)

Prosecutors allege that a computer at the Banfield home was tied to an account on a sexual fetish website, the Post reported.

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Ryan, the man who reportedly held Christine at knifepoint, also apparently had an account on the website and had been communicating with whoever was accessing the site from the Banfield computer.

Fairfax police arrest Brandon Banfield. (Fairfax County Police Department)

Authorities arrested Magalhaes in October 2023 after she moved in to the Banfields’ main bedroom and placed a framed photo of herself with Brendan on a nightstand beside the bed. A grand jury indicted the 23-year-old in April.

Banfield is no longer employed by the IRS.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said his Republican rivals do not know “how to talk to women” during a campaign event Tuesday.

Walz mocked former President Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, during a speech in Savannah aimed at motivating Georgia voters to cast ballots before Election Day on Nov. 5.

“They want to talk about things that don’t impact you,” Walz said of the GOP presidential ticket. “The things that impact you, those young folks in here too – where are you going to find child care… How are you going to afford it?”

“Now, they asked JD Vance where we should get child care, and he said, ‘Ask grandma to do it,’ because God knows grandma is not doing anything else like having a career and living her life and doing things like that.”

GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE

He was referring to an interview Vance did with conservative activist Charlie Kirk in early September, though the Ohio Republican’s comments did not focus on women alone but rather grandparents as a unit. He said getting “grandma or grandpa” to help with child care was “one of the ways you might be able to relieve a little bit of pressure on families who are paying so much for day care.”

Walz, however, mocked it, “We should offer classes to these guys to learn how to talk to women so they can get this right, because they don’t know how to do it.”

He said of the Democrats’ plan for child care, “We’re talking about making sure we’re hiring more people to work in child care, and we’re incentivizing and being able to subsidize some of the costs so that folks can get out and work. That makes a difference.”

GEORGIA DEMS CHAIR REVEALS MESSAGE TO UNDECIDED GOP VOTERS AS HARRIS WORKS TO BUILD BROAD BASE

The governor took aim at Vance’s comments last month that grandparents could help with child care. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Outreach to women of all races, as well as economic and political backgrounds, has been a cornerstone of the Harris-Walz campaign’s efforts. 

The latest push by the campaign’s allies has involved pointing out to married Republican women that they could vote for Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump without telling anyone – including their husbands.

Walz is doing a multi-stop tour in Georgia on Tuesday, exactly one week until Nov. 5 marks the end of the election season.

Both campaigns have dedicated significant attention to the battleground state, which President Biden won by less than 1% in 2020. In particular, both have pushed supporters to vote early in-person or absentee rather than on Election Day.

‘ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VOID’: GEORGIA JUDGE STRIKES DOWN NEW ELECTION RULES AFTER LEGAL FIGHTS

Both campaigns are pushing voters to turn out early. (Megan Varner/Washington Post)

The Trump campaign’s Georgia team said on Tuesday morning ahead of Walz’s public appearances, “Since Kamala Harris said she wouldn’t have done anything different from Joe Biden, Tim Walz is campaigning for another four years of unmanaged illegal immigration, sky-high prices, and war abroad.”

“Georgia voters know President Trump will fix what Kamala Harris broke and flock to the ballot box for his America First Agenda on Nov. 5,” the campaign said.

When asked for comment on Walz’s remarks specifically, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the ex-president had a better record on women and families than Harris did. 

“Kamala Harris may be the first woman Vice President, but she has implemented dangerously liberal policies that have left women worse off financially and far less safe than we were four years ago under President Trump,” Leavitt said. “Women deserve a president who will secure our nation’s borders, remove violent criminals from our neighborhoods, and build an economy that helps our families thrive – and that’s exactly what President Trump will do.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.