A federal judge has ruled that Virginia violated the voting rights of military service members and other Americans overseas when officials failed to mail more than 2,100 absentee ballots in time for last year's presidential election.
U.S. District Judge Richard Williams also ordered Friday that the Virginia Board of Elections count and certify the absentee ballots.
The ballots from military service members and others living outside the state were the focus of a lawsuit filed by Republican candidate John McCain's campaign, which alleged that they weren't mailed in time for overseas voters to return them before the polls closed Nov. 4.
The missing ballots would not have swung the election in Virginia where President Barack Obama won by nearly 233,000 votes.
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