RNC Wins Major Election Integrity Lawsuit in North Carolina
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Republican National Committee (RNC) celebrated a significant victory this week after the Wake County Superior Court ruled on Tuesday that non-residents cannot vote in North Carolina’s elections.
North Carolina previously allowed adults who were born outside of the United States to vote in state elections if their “parents or guardians last lived in this state before moving overseas,” according to The Carolina Journal. The state’s Uniform Military and Overseas Voter Act allowed these individuals who had never lived in North Carolina – so-called “never-residents” – to vote in the state’s elections.
The issue played a significant role in the 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court election, in which Democrat candidate Allison Riggs defeated Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin by fewer than 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast. Riggs was not certified as the winner until May 2025 because Griffin challenged the results in both state and federal court.
Griffin specifically challenged the legality of 65,000 votes, including some from voters who never lived in the state. As the Journal reported, most of those votes “were cast by voters with registration records that appeared to lack federally required driver’s license or Social Security numbers.” Additionally, Griffin’s challenges focused on “overseas voters who provided no photo identification and ‘never residents,’ voters who checked a box on a voter form indicating they had never lived in North Carolina.”
As conservatives pointed out at the time, it is absurd to allow individuals who do not and have never lived in North Carolina to help decide the outcome of North Carolina elections. In this case, the “never-resident” voters were voting for judges who made decisions that the voters themselves would not be subject to.
The RNC explained in a statement that the North Carolina Supreme Court last year ruled in Griffin’s case that “people who have never lived in the state cannot vote in state elections.” But while the North Carolina Board of Elections did stop allowing non-residents to vote in elections for state-specific offices, they continued to allow these non-residents to vote in federal elections.
As a result, the RNC sued the North Carolina Board of Elections to ensure that only North Carolina residents can vote state as well as federal elections moving forward. The RNC explained that Wake County Superior Court’s ruling this week confirmed the state’s Supreme Court decision that “the North Carolina Board of Elections violated the state constitution by allowing individuals who were born overseas and have never lived in North Carolina to vote in federal elections in the state.”
RNC Chairman Joe Gruters praised the decision as a victory for fair elections.
“This is a clear win for fair and lawful elections,” Gruters said. “The court upheld the North Carolina Constitution and made clear that only North Carolina residents can vote in the state. The RNC will keep fighting to ensure only eligible citizens can vote.”
North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Jason Simmons agreed with that sentiment.
“This ruling confirms the state constitution forbids voting by individuals who have never lived in North Carolina,” Simmons said. “The Court of Appeals and Supreme Court decisively ruled on this previously and the decision reaffirms the common-sense principle only North Carolina citizens can vote in North Carolina elections.”
The RNC also confirmed that this ruling does not impact any federal law. The committee explained that the ruling “does not affect voters who qualify under the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which applies to U.S. citizens who have previously lived in a state or who are currently serving overseas.”
Alan Jamison is the pen name of a political writer with extensive experience writing for several notable politicians and news outlets.
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