Election 2024: Republican lawsuits target rules for overseas voters / AP News

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Updated 12:24 AM EDT, October 14, 2024

  • Overseas Voting Challenges: Republicans are challenging how states handle overseas and military voters, claiming potential fraud without evidence.
  • Federal Law: The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) allows military and overseas citizens to vote absentee.
  • Demographic Shift: More overseas voters are presumed to lean Democratic, prompting Republican scrutiny.
  • Legal Actions: Lawsuits in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina aim to change or challenge current voting practices for overseas voters.

@RalphHightower: The Trumpers, fka, “Republicans”, are cherry picking the states to challenge, which happen to be battleground states. If they have proof of voter fraud, then file lawsuits against all fifty states, plus the territories.

Ballots already have been sent to overseas and military voters under a federally mandated deadline. Trump and his Republican allies contend these ballots could be part of an elaborate scheme to steal the election from him, a claim for which there is no evidence. Their challenge comes as the voters who receive the ballots are increasingly from groups that are presumed to be Democratic. Here’s a look at the issues involved and what’s driving the claims.

Why are these claims being raised now?

The warnings about overseas ballot fraud join a very long list of Trump allegations of rampant fraud in U.S. elections, even though there has been no evidence of any widespread fraud. Reviews, recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump disputed his 2020 loss all affirmed President Joe Biden’s victory, and his own attorney general said there was no evidence of fraud that could have tipped the election.

Trump has claimed without evidence that huge numbers of non-citizens vote, that mail ballots are forged and that voting machines are secretly programmed against him. The goal has been to sow doubt about the reliability of any election he loses, enabling him to try to overturn his defeat.

What do election officials say?

With less than a month before the Nov. 5 election, now is not the time to raise objections to state law that has been in place for 13 years, said Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

“This lawsuit was filed after voting had already begun in North Carolina for the general election,” Gannon said in a statement. “The time to challenge the rules for voter eligibility is well before an election, not after votes have already been cast.”

In Michigan, the relevant state laws and procedures also have been on the books for years, according to state election officials. A state law passed in 1995 says a spouse or dependent of an overseas voter who is a U.S. citizen can register using their parent’s or spouse’s Michigan address.

State election officials said local offices follow standard procedures to check the identity of all those seeking to register to vote in Michigan. That includes military and overseas voters, who are required to renew their status every year. Their ballots also are subject to the same checks as those cast by non-military and overseas voters, including signature verification.

“This is not a legitimate legal concern — just the latest in the RNC’s PR campaign to spread unfounded distrust in the integrity of our elections,” said Angela Benander, spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state’s office.

In Pennsylvania, ballots cast by ineligible voters occur at “extremely low” rates and are investigated, said Matt Heckel, spokesman for the state election office. Heckel said anyone who lies on the form faces substantial penalties, including a potential felony conviction, prison sentence and fine.

@RalphHightower: Trump, you lost in 2020. You’re a pathological liar. You lost 2020 by 6,979,606. Biden has 306 electoral college votes to your 232 votes. Get over it! Go home and cheat at golf.