Politics

Republicans target overseas voting, ensnaring service members

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

Blue Light Newsroom

Republicans target overseas voting, ensnaring service members

Oct. 10, 2024, 10:36 PM UTC/Updated Oct. 22, 2024, 4:22 PM UTC

By Ya’han Jones

UPDATE (Oct. 22, 2024, 12:22 p.m. ET): State judges on Monday rejected Republican challenges to certain overseas ballots in separate lawsuits brought in Michigan and North Carolina.

As you’re likely aware, Republicans tend to portray themselves as the pro-military party. With its performative bravado and proneness to saber-rattlingthe Trump-led GOP has branded itself as the party most aligned with the armed services.

And yet, Republicans have been waging a quiet war on service members’ voting rights.

The latest example is a lawsuit filed by six House Republicans out of Pennsylvania, all of whom voted not to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The suit baselessly claims that their state’s process for voters who register overseas — a group that includes many service members and their families — is susceptible to election fraud.

The Washington Post noted that critics say the lawsuit could lead to thousands of eligible ballots being disqualified and added:

The lawsuit is notable for targeting a group of voters long thought to favor Republicans because of the prevalence of military personnel stationed overseas, but that is now seen as more evenly divided or even leaning Democratic. The suit adds to a long list of Republican-backed litigation around the country with just weeks to go before the Nov. 5 election, with much of it aimed at disqualifying mail-in votes or removing ineligible voters from rolls.

This is part of a trend we’ve been seeing play out in swing states, where Republicans have filed multiple lawsuits designed to needlessly sow doubt about the veracity of the election results and the electoral process. GOP officials have filed lawsuits in North Carolina and Michigan targeting overseas voting, as Donald Trump and Elon Musk push conspiracy theories about these voters.

And in Michigan, Republicans have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from using some Veterans Affairs offices in the state as voter registration sites. The suit has been denounced by veterans advocates.

All of this is odd, no?

With the GOP’s rhetoric, one might think that Republicans would steer clear of doing anything that could infringe on the voting rights of America’s service members. The fact that they are going scorched-earth with their conspiratorial legal attacks — and potentially harming military members in the process — shows how desperate they truly are as they seek to hoist Trump back into the White House.

Ya’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He’s a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”