Republican Lawsuit Demands Verification Process for Overseas Ballots

The lack of current checks and verifications opens the process to fraud and foreign tampering, federal filings allege.

The Federal Voter Assistance Program exists to help US Citizens overseas cast their ballots. But local election officials in two swing states are trying to circumvent the rules and allow disqualified voters a new lawsuit alleges.

“North Carolinians and Michiganders should not have their votes canceled by those who’ve never lived in the state in the first place – plain and simple,” said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley in a press release last week. “This is illegal and we will stop it. While Democrats want an election system that disregards the law, we are committed to election integrity across the country.”

Democrats countered accusing Republicans of trying to “sow doubt about the integrity of the election,” in a Michigan court filing.

“Regardless of the number impacted…we want every single legal vote to be counted properly, and counting illegitimate votes dilutes that and cancels it,” one RNC official told CNN.

The primary request made by the lawsuit is that overseas ballots undergo a verification process before being mixed with in-person ballots and counted.

Overseas ballots have historically trended Republican and current Pew Research polling shows that Trump carries 61% support among military veterans while Change Research shows him leading Harris by 5 points among active service members and two points among military families.

Election processes have come under greater scrutiny in swing states the past weeks ever since Virginia found thousands of noncitizens registered to vote. Republicans and voter integrity groups began digging into overseas ballot regulations after Democrats claimed to be courting the votes of over 9 million Americans living abroad. Federal records indicate there are only 2.8 million overseas citizens eligible to vote.  Only about 890,000 of those voted in the 2020 election.

Martha McDevitt-Pugh, chair of Democrats Abroad, claimed to CBS News a 100% increase in Americans abroad registering to vote since July 21, 2024.

Michigan Fair Elections chairwoman Patrice Johnson theorized that “[Democrats] appear to be citing 9 million to set expectations and nurture public acceptance of that number, despite the federal government indicating only 2.8 million voting-aged citizens reside overseas.”

Online foreign voter registrations are said to be particularly vulnerable to manipulation since they lack many of the security procedures embedded in traditional registration. “It’s impossible to verify the identity or even the human existence of online nonmilitary registrations using regular email systems, yet 31 states are accepting voter registrations and electronic ballots,” Johnson said.

Changes to the Federal overseas voting program allow voters to register online without providing ID, Social Security Number, Passport information or any proof of US citizenship or state residency and many states allow ballots to be cast via email.

Critics claim this lack of checks and balances leaves elections too open to fraud or foreign tampering.