THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Donald Trump claimed September 23 that anyone living overseas can get a ballot for the US presidential election mailed to them, without any checks on their citizenship or identity, in attempt to rig the vote. There is no evidence to back up his claim.
Trump's post said:
The Democrats are talking about how they're working so hard to get millions of votes from Americans living overseas. Actually, they are getting ready to CHEAT! They are going to use UOCAVA to get ballots, a program that emails ballots overseas without any citizenship check or verification of identity, whatsoever. (Foreign interference?) Remember they say, we have the most secure elections in history,
and anyone can get a ballot emailed to them! They want to dilute the TRUE vote of our beautiful military and their families, who Comrade Kamala has totally disrespected and abandoned. Republicans must act to stop them from stealing our military votes. WATCH! Remember, IF YOU VOTE ILLEGALLY, YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL.
The Uniformed and Civilian Overseas Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), is a federal law which enshrines the right to vote for US military and civilian citizens who live outside the United States. Individuals must register and request ballots by sending a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) to their relevant election office, usually in the state in which they last lived in the United States. An FPCA must be submitted each year in which you intend to vote, in order to request absentee ballots for all elections held during that year. All voters have to confirm under penalty of perjury that they are US citizens at that point, including those living abroad. Local election officials then verify the identity and eligibility of those who register to vote absentee, as they would for anyone resident in the US.
A spokesperson for Democrats Abroad said: With this absurd rant on
Truth
Social, Americans abroad join a host of other groups of US citizens Donald Trump feels shouldn't be allowed to participate in American elections. Contrary to Trump's desperate attempt to de-Americanize US citizens living outside the country, Americans abroad have just as much right to exercise our right to vote as our brothers and sisters at home, and ballots are only sent to people whose registration have been confirmed and validated by their local elections office. Donald Trump realizes that he cannot win an election when Americans of all stripes vote. His whole campaign is about denying rights and freedoms what Americans enjoy. What we are seeing with this latest rant is his attempt to undermine another of these rights – the right to vote. It is astonishing that someone who wants to be president has so little knowledge of our voting system, and so little confidence in the choices that the American people would make.
Commentators including Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, executive director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education, have suggested that this is part of a Trump campaign attempt to sow doubt about the security of our elections, to enable Trump to claim, should he lose again, to claim that the vote was rigged and the election stolen. Again, there is no evidence for this.
If you are a US citizen living overseas, you can register to vote in the election at www.votefromabroad.org (a non-partisan service provided by Democrats Abroad) or www.fvap.gov (Federal Voting Assistance Program, a US government service for military personnel and civilians living overseas).
