A federal judge in Michigan dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee and two individual voters, which sought to challenge the state’s voter roll maintenance practices.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Jane M. Beckering sided with the state’s defense that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the suit. The judge found that the concerns raised by the individual plaintiffs, such as a “fear of having their legitimate votes diluted by those of ineligible voters,” were speculative and did not constitute the kind of concrete harm required to establish standing under Article III of the Constitution, according to her 30-page decision.
“Plaintiffs’ census data alone, even assuming its reliability, does not plausibly indicate that
Michigan is violating the” National Voter Registration Act, the judge wrote.
The lawsuit, filed against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) and Director of Elections Jonathan Brater, alleged that the state had failed to clean its voter rolls adequately in accordance with NVRA.
The RNC and two other individual plaintiffs argued that Michigan was not removing ineligible voters from its registration lists and cited discrepancies between U.S. Census data and voter registration numbers.
One of the core claims related to allegations that 55 counties in Michigan had more registered voters than adult citizens and that another 23 counties had voter registration rates exceeding 90%, based on census data the plaintiffs provided.
However, the judge ultimately found that the RNC’s claim that it was harmed when it had to divert resources to investigate Michigan’s voter rolls was insufficient to meet the legal threshold for standing.
She referenced recent Supreme Court rulings that require more than hypothetical concerns or speculative future harms to justify a lawsuit. The court ruled that neither the RNC nor the individual voters had demonstrated a personal stake in the case that would allow it to proceed in federal court.
The judge emphasized that Michigan’s voter registration maintenance system, which includes participation in the Electronic Registration Information Center, is designed to remove deceased voters and update registration lists based on changes in residency. The state had also recently canceled hundreds of thousands of outdated registrations, a fact highlighted in the defense’s argument.
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Attorneys for Benson defended her “rigorous list maintenance practices” against the RNC’s claims in court filings, saying that since 2019, her office has removed about 800,000 people from the statewide voter roll and that another 360,000 would be removed in 2025.
The Washington Examiner contacted the RNC for comment.