Overseas voters who are already registered can still receive November ballots. The revised Federal Post Card Application, which eligible service members and overseas citizens use to register and request an absentee ballot, no longer includes a box for U.S. citizens living abroad who have never lived in the United States. The Department of Defense administers the application.
What applicants and states can do
State rules determine whether citizens born abroad who have never lived in the country may vote. Some states and the District of Columbia permit them to vote in at least some elections, The Guardian reported. The Pentagon has said states may process any application that provides the information needed to verify eligibility, according to NPR.
A 2016 government report estimated that about 11,590 people nationwide were U.S. citizens living abroad who had never lived in the country, The Guardian reported. The group includes children of U.S. citizens born overseas. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act covers qualified U.S. citizens residing outside the country and provides for the Federal Post Card Application, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
National figures on overseas and military ballots
For the 2022 general election, election offices transmitted more than 650,000 ballots to voters covered by UOCAVA, about two-thirds of them to overseas citizens and one-third to uniformed services members. Slightly more than 40% of transmitted ballots were returned, and more than 96% of returned ballots were counted, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
The DNC disputes the process
The Democratic National Committee’s lawsuit challenges the Pentagon’s and Office of Management and Budget’s approval of the form changes. The complaint says the Pentagon submitted two emergency requests in August, one of them to remove the option for citizens who have never lived in the United States, and that OMB approved the requests as the deadline for sending overseas ballots approached. The DNC argues the agencies changed the form without proper notice and asks a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to find that they violated the Administrative Procedure Act and set the changes aside, according to the complaint.
The Pentagon’s stated reasons, as reported by NPR, were that the previous forms could confuse voters and that the approaching election—less than 90 days away—prevented the usual process. The department did not respond to a request for comment, according to the Associated Press report carried by ClickOrlando.
Related challenges in state courts
The DNC complaint says Republicans have filed lawsuits in nine states challenging the counting of ballots cast by citizens who have never lived in the country. NPR reports that a North Carolina court has sided with challengers, while courts in Michigan have rejected similar arguments; other cases remain pending.
