LANSING, Mich. — A judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Republican National Committee over Michigan's qualified voter list on Tuesday, ruling that the GOP had failed to identify "a plausible claim" that the state's current practices violated federal law.

The decision from Judge Jane Beckering of Michigan's Western District came as prominent Republican political figures, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, have been criticizing Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over the state's voter rolls in recent days.

The RNC's suit, filed in March, focused on similar arguments to those that Musk made on social media as recently as Sunday.

Beckering said in a 30-page opinion — issued two weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election — that the Western District court had previously examined Michigan's program for removing dead voters from the qualified voter file "concluding that the multilateral process was 'reasonable.'"

"As defendants emphasize, plaintiffs have not alleged any specific breakdown in Michigan’s removal program, nor have plaintiffs requested any specific relief," wrote Beckering, a nominee of Democratic President Joe Biden.

The RNC filed the lawsuit on March 13, contending that Michigan had failed to comply with the National Voter Registration Act and that at least 53 Michigan counties had more "active registered voters than adult citizens over the age of 18."

"That number of voters is impossibly high," the RNC's lawsuit said.

Michigan has about 7.9 million adult residents, according to U.S. Census data. There about 8.4 million registered voters in Michigan, but only 7.2 million active registered voters, according to the Secretary of State's office.

Inactive voters are those who have already been sent a notice of cancellation, according to the Secretary of State's office.

As Beckering wrote, citing information from the Secretary of State's office, more than 800,000 voter registrations have been canceled in Michigan since 2019, and as of March 2024, there were more than 550,000 voter registrations scheduled for cancellation in 2025 or 2027.

Federal law prohibits states from removing registered voters until at least two federal general elections have passed since those voters failed to respond to an official notice, Beckering noted.

While federal law obligates Michigan to ensure that any eligible applicant is registered to vote and to make areasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters, the RNC was asking the court to order Michigan to “ensure that ineligible registrants are not on the voter rolls."

"Plaintiffs’ requested relief, in telling fashion, flips the statutory mandate on its head," Beckering wrote.

Musk, who has been supporting Republican Donald Trump's campaign for president this fall, questioned on the social media platform X, which he also owns, last week on whether Michigan "has more registered voters than eligible citizens."

In response, Benson, the state's top election official, accused Musk of "spreading dangerous disinformation."

"There aren’t more voters than citizens in Michigan," Benson wrote. "There are 7.2 million active registered voters and 7.9 citizens of voting age in our state. Musk is pushing a misleading number that includes 1.2 million inactive records slated for removal in accordance with the law."

Musk added on Sunday that Benson planned to remove ineligible voters only after the upcoming election.

"That necessarily means that there are far more people registered to vote than there eligible voters," Musk wrote.

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