Election officials in one of the bluest cities in Michigan may soon have to give answers under oath about an election-related imbalance that always seems to favor Democrats.

In 2022, the Michigan GOP and the Republican National Committee sued various officials in Flint, Michigan, after the city hired just a fraction of the number of Republican polling inspectors required by state law.

'It’s about making sure that courts are open to decide important questions about people’s rights.'

The state statute demands that "board of election commissioners shall appoint at least 1 election inspector from each major political party and shall appoint an equal number, as nearly as possible, of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party."

However, of the 562 inspectors appointed by the Flint election commissioners, just 57 were Republicans, court documents said.

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Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images

Despite the gross disparity, lower courts in Michigan dismissed the lawsuit, claiming that the state and national Republican parties lacked standing. These Republican organizations "cannot show that they are interested parties who are entitled to a declaratory judgment," the majority opinion from the Michigan Court of Appeals determined in 2024. The 2-1 decision added that the groups "do not have a legally protected interest in the enforcement of" the applicable statutes.

A supermajority of the decidedly liberal Michigan Supreme Court disagreed.

On Monday, the state's highest court ruled 5-1 that the Michigan Republican Party and the RNC do in fact have "a unique interest in ensuring the fair and equal treatment of party-affiliated candidates during voting and the counting of ballots." The ruling added that such "fair and equal treatment" "is fulfilled through party-affiliated election inspectors."

The ruling gives new life to the GOP lawsuit, allowing it to proceed at the lower courts. Should it be retried, "Flint officials will be forced to explain themselves under oath," Rod D. Martin, tech entrepreneur and CEO of Martin Capital, noted.

"Democrats stacked the deck in Flint," Martin continued on social media. "Now they’ll have to answer for it."

Michael Whatley, chairman of the RNC, likewise cheered the ruling as "another major win for election integrity!"

"Every voter deserves transparency and fairness — and that starts with equal representation among poll workers," he continued in a statement posted to social media.

Republican state Rep. Bryan Posthumus of Rockford is likewise pleased.

"The Supreme Court made the right call in overturning the lower court's ruling," Posthumus said in a statement to Blaze News. "The fight to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections is a continuous one, and this is a big battle to win."

Even the ACLU of Michigan celebrated the decision. ACLU attorney Phil Mayor claimed that the GOP lawsuit "really deserved to be heard."

"The underlying case may be about politics, but the standing question that the Michigan Supreme Court decided today is not about politics. It’s about making sure that courts are open to decide important questions about people’s rights," Mayor said, according to Michigan Public.

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Flint is not the only heavily Democratic city in Michigan to be sued for failing to hire enough Republican election inspectors. In August, the RNC sued Detroit on similar grounds.

At that point, only 335 of the more than 500 precincts in Detroit had provided legally required information about polling workers. Of those 335, at least 202 "did not have any Republican election inspectors," the lawsuit said, even though the Detroit clerk had received in May a list of nearly 700 Republicans willing to serve.

Though the city had hired at least 250 Republicans, those supposed Republicans were not nominated by the party.

Detroit settled that lawsuit just before the 2024 general election, agreeing to adjust "processes and protocols" to accord with state law.

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