Overseas voting sparks litigation in these battleground states

Two major battleground states allow overseas citizens that don’t live—and in some cases never lived—in their states to vote, the Republican National Committee says.

A group called Democrats Abroad, meanwhile, casts what it calls international voting as a “secret weapon” to win elections.

The RNC joined state Republican parties in Michigan and North Carolina in separate lawsuits to stop what plaintiffs allege to be illegal overseas voting.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in a dead heat in the race for the White House in both states, polling within one percentage point of each other, according to the  RealClearPolitics polling average in each state.

Michigan has 15 electoral votes and North Carolina has 16.

The Republican National Committee’s lawsuits name the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Michigan’s controversial Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson as defendants, respectively. Spokespersons for both offices didn’t respond immediately to The Daily Signal’s inquiries for this story.

“This is the law, and it’s commonsense. People who’ve never lived in Michigan or North Carolina shouldn’t vote there,” Claire Zunk, RNC communications director for election integrity, told The Daily Signal in a statement. “Democrats know they can’t win with a secure election, so they want ineligible voters to influence critical battleground states and dilute legal votes. We are fighting, and will stop these attacks on election integrity.”

A spokesperson for Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, criticized the litigation. 

“This time, they’re targeting the voting rights of United States citizens and their families living overseas—including the children of active-duty military service members who are making sacrifices for our freedoms,” Angela Benander told The Daily Signal in an email. “It’s disappointing to see a national political party try to disenfranchise our military families, but at this point, unfortunately, it’s not surprising.”

“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,” Benander said. “We will continue our work to ensure that every voter eligible under the law can make their voices heard in this election.”

Democrats Abroad notes that 6.5 million U.S. citizens living outside the country are eligible to vote, but often don’t.

“We could change every single election in this country based on overseas voters and expats alone,” says a pinned post at the top of Democrats Abroad’s X page, including a video.

The post adds: “People may no longer live in America, but they have the power to fix America. International voters not only have the numbers but they have the element of surprise. International Americans should see themselves as democracy’s secret weapon.”

North Carolina ranks No. 18 in the nation with a score of 70 on The Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard ranking the states. Michigan ranks No. 27 with a score of 57.

The lawsuits assert that both states’ constitutions require individuals to be residents of the states to vote.

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 allows U.S. citizens overseas to vote absentee in their state of residence. The law doesn’t expand voter eligibility to individuals who never were state residents, the RNC lawsuits assert.

The plaintiffs argue that Benson gave guidance to local election officials in Michigan to extend eligibility to overseas voters who don’t live in the state and possibly never lived there. The suit also claims that some may never have lived in the United States.

The North Carolina lawsuit asserts that a state law—the Uniformed Military and Overseas Voters Act, or UMOVA—is unconstitutional and extends voting eligibility to overseas residents who aren’t or haven’t been state residents.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]

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