THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
A federal court in Pennsylvania is considering a challenge to the state's process for determining the eligibility of overseas citizens to vote. On behalf of those overseas citizens, a group of nonpartisan organizations and overseas voters have filed an 'amicus' (friend-of-the-court) brief to show how that challenge could disenfranchise military and overseas voters who have a fundamental right to vote in US elections.
This follows Donald Trump's claim on September 23 that that overseas voters will use the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) to 'cheat' in the election. Under UOCAVA, which was enacted in 1986, states must allow military personnel and other US citizens to vote in federal elections by absentee ballot in their former state of residence. Each state must implement the law separately because they handle their own election administration, and states have multiple levels of security to ensure only eligible citizens can vote from abroad. That includes identification requirements, such as Social Security or similar numbers, as well as other checks.
The plaintiffs – six Republican members of Congress and a group called PA Fair Elections (which has shared theories about voter fraud for which there is no evidence) sued Pennsylvania state officials in federal court, alleging that Pennsylvania is unlawfully refusing to verify the identities and eligibility of citizens voting overseas. The complaint, however, has no specific allegations to show that Pennsylvania's process is susceptible to abuse.
The amicus brief countering that action makes three main points about the plaintiffs' lawsuit: it conflicts with longstanding federal efforts to make it easier for overseas citizens to vote; it only seeks to add to the existing difficulties overseas voters face; it is a part of an insidious, concerted movement by election deniers to weaponize the judicial process to introduce doubt about the 2024 election.
The amicus brief was filed on October 18, by the Brennan Center and co-counsel O'Melveny & Myers LLP and Myers, Brier & Kelly LLP on behalf of nonpartisan organizations including American Citizens Abroad (ACA), the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), Blue Star Families, the Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas (FAWCO), the US Vote Foundation, as well as seven individual overseas voters.
Marylouise Serrato, Executive Director of ACA, said: This is a bipartisan issue. All US citizens, whether they want to vote for Democrats or Republicans or someone else, should have the right to do this easily and in a straight-forward manner. Voting rights for US citizens overseas was one of the first advocacy issues the organization addressed when it was founded.
Our members are Republicans and Democrats, Independents, and everything else under the sun. They are engaged with the issues, they want to vote, and they need to be able to vote and to do this without having to jump through a lot of hoops,
added Jonathan Lachowitz, Chairman, ACA. ACA has always supported efforts to ensure that the voting rights of US citizens overseas are safeguarded and we will continue to defend the voting rights of US citizens overseas.
