A series of recent rulings have dealt blows to Republican attempts to enforce stricter scrutiny on overseas and military voting in key battleground states.
In a Pennsylvania case, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by six Republican House members from the state. The representatives argued that overseas ballots, including those cast by U.S. military personnel, require heightened verification measures to prevent potential fraud.
However, the judge dismissed the case on procedural grounds, stating that the lawmakers lacked legal standing and had filed their complaint too close to the upcoming election.
The ruling is the latest in a string of setbacks for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and associated GOP groups challenging the eligibility of certain overseas voters.
Last week, similar cases were dismissed by state judges in Michigan and North Carolina. In Michigan, Judge Sima Patel concluded that the RNC’s suit was an “11th-hour attempt to disenfranchise these electors,” as the state has long allowed eligible U.S. citizens living abroad to vote, as per the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
Michigan’s secretary of state has upheld this policy, clarifying that eligible voters with familial ties to Michigan retain the right to cast ballots even if they have never resided in the U.S. themselves.
In North Carolina, a judge similarly rejected the RNC’s attempt to segregate ballots from certain overseas voters, noting that the rules had been in place since 2011 and have historically received bipartisan support.
The in that case judge remarked that the RNC’s argument lacked any evidence of fraud by overseas voters in past elections. When the RNC appealed, the North Carolina Court of Appeals declined to intervene, allowing the ballots to be processed as usual. The Democratic National Committee has since moved to have the case dismissed outright.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s executive order to remove over 1,600 individuals from voter rolls, despite a challenge from the federal Justice Department, which argued that the removals violated the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA) “quiet period” rule and that the purge risks disenfranchising eligible voters.
The RNC has continued to appeal these decisions, with its spokesperson, Claire Zunk, indicating that they are seeking further legal recourse in both North Carolina and Michigan.
Legal experts, however, say those cases are unlikely to succeed, particularly as absentee and military ballots are already being sent out.
Many observers suggest the timing of these challenges may be intended to sow doubt over overseas voting.
Voting rights advocates have expressed concerns that the RNC’s lawsuits are part of a broader effort to question election results.
Military members and veterans’ groups have also raised objections, noting that the challenges to overseas ballots could unfairly target military personnel stationed abroad.
Military members and veterans’ groups have also raised objections, noting that the challenges to overseas ballots could unfairly target military personnel stationed abroad.
While the outcome of these cases appears unlikely to prevent overseas voting, they highlight the ongoing partisan debate surrounding voting rights and election integrity in the United States.
Including baseless conspiracy theories in a legal complaint does not make them true, says Eliza Sweren-Becker, senior counsel in the Voting Rights & Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
“Conservative activists, operatives, and election denial groups have filed dozens of cases,” said Sweren-Becker. “While the legal claims and unsubstantiated allegations differ somewhat from case to case, they share a common goal: cast enough doubt on American elections to excuse subsequent efforts (whether in court or otherwise) to supersede the will of voters.”
“These cases are — to use a technical, legal term — bogus,” said Sweren-Becker, who described them as a foundation for a repeat of disgraced former President Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election. “We know this for several reasons. First, plaintiffs’ factual allegations are based on conspiracy theories, misinformation, unsubstantiated data, and claims of widespread voter fraud that have repeatedly been disproven.”
Two-thirds of Republican voters and nearly 3 in 10 Americans continue to believe the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and that President Joe Biden was not lawfully elected.
Two criminal cases have been filed against Trump and other Republicans who conspired to cheat but there is no evidence of fraud that could have made him the winner, and all the lawsuits challenging the results have been lost after hearings on the merits or dismissed as moot – even by judges he hand-picked.
The State of Georgia v. Donald J. Trump, et al. is a racketeering case against Trump and 18 other defendants for trying to overthrow the 2020 Georgia election, and the United States v. Donald J. Trump is a federal election obstruction case in the District of Columbia.