Roughly 4,000 overseas ballots have been challenged by Republicans in 14 counties after a federal judge tossed a lawsuit restricting overseas voting. ACLU of Pennsylvania and others are blasting the challenges as baseless and unprecedented.
Thousands of overseas ballots are being challenged by Republicans throughout Pennsylvania even though a federal judge recently tossed a Republican-backed lawsuit.
Lancaster Online reported over the weekend that there were 4,000 overseas ballots in 14 counties, and the challenges appear to be part of a far-right coordinated effort according to Secretary of State Al Schmidt.
“These challenges are based on theories that courts have repeatedly rejected, and they appeared in two separate coordinated efforts to disenfranchise our voters,” Schmidt said on Saturday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU PA), which is part of the PA Voters Decide Coalition, called these baseless challenges “unprecedented,” and said they were a “blatant and illegal attempt to undermine our democratic process and to sow doubt in our elections.”
“Citizenship gives Americans the freedom to vote, whether they live here or abroad. A federal law passed nearly 40 years ago enshrined that right for military personnel and those living abroad,” Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
“Those living abroad permanently are entitled to vote in federal elections, like President and congressional offices. The place of residency is the last known U.S. address. The people who filed the approximately 3600 Pennsylvania challenges to overseas voters are either profoundly ignorant of longstanding law or intent on creating confusion and undermining trust in elections.”
These challenges come after six Pennsylvania Republican congressmen filed a lawsuit placing more restrictions on overseas voters. That lawsuit was tossed in federal court.
The ACLU PA cites the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which was enacted in 1986 and grants voting protections to those living in US territories, military bases and abroad.
“Election deniers across Pennsylvania have submitted thousands of mass challenges to overseas voters because they want to block as many ballots as possible and silence our voices,” All Voting is Local Pennsylvania State Director Deborah Hinchey said in a statement.
“This is a clear strategy by conspiracy theorists across the Commonwealth to illegally invalidate thousands of votes and intimidate voters right before Election Day. But these baseless challenges have failed before and the proper checks and balances are in place to make sure they’ll fail again.”
