Overseas voters – now a bloc that could be crucial for Democrats – targeted by GOP lawsuits in battleground states

An overseas ballot process that has long been seen as sacrosanct by both parties, due to its connection to US military members serving in foreign countries, is the target of multiple GOP-backed lawsuits filed in recent days.

An overseas ballot process that has long been seen as sacrosanct by both parties, due to its connection to US military members serving in foreign countries, is the target of multiple GOP-backed lawsuits filed in recent days. The new legal assault comes as ballots cast by Americans abroad have become very favorable for Democrats and could be crucial in getting Vice President Kamala Harris over the finish line. In addition to the new lawsuits filed by Republicans in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan, former President Donald Trump has suggested without evidence that the overseas vote is a source of fraud, even as he has made entreaties to Americans abroad with a campaign promise of lowering their taxes. There are about 6.5 million eligible American voters living, serving and studying overseas, with about 1.6 million of them in battleground states, and more in tight House districts. Those votes could be decisive: The 2020 election was decided by 44,000 votes over four states. More than 1.2 million ballots were sent abroad in 2020 and nearly 890,000 were eventually counted, according to a report by the US Election Assistance Commission. Democrats have painted new GOP legal challenges as an attack on the franchise of service people who are putting their lives on the line for the country by serving abroad, though the civilian expat community is more centrally in the crosshairs of the Republican lawsuits. Election officials also say that last-minute changes to election procedures with ballots already sent out would not only disenfranchise voters but lay the groundwork to falsely cast doubt on the results.