House Dems and GOP wage bitter fight over military voting
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Rep. Pat Ryan addresses the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2024. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
House Democrats who served in the military are pushing back hard on a group of their Republican colleagues suing for tighter restrictions on overseas ballots, including from service members stationed abroad.
Why it matters: Former President Trump and his allies have seized on overseas voting rules as part of a sprawling effort to sow doubt about election procedures in key states.
- A group of Pennsylvania Republicans — Reps. Guy Reschenthaler, Dan Meuser, Mike Kelly, G.T. Thompson, Lloyd Smucker and Scott Perry — filed a lawsuit earlier this month challenging guidance from Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, for overseas voters.
- The GOP lawmakers allege Schmidt's office overstepped its authority by instructing local election officials to exempt overseas voters from voter ID requirements.
- Schmidt's office has accused the Republican members of Congress of trying to "confuse and frighten" voters and noted the suit was filed two weeks after the state began mailing out overseas ballots.
Driving the news: In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent earlier this week, a half dozen House Democrats who served in the military voiced "deep concern about the actions of our congressional colleagues."
- The letter was signed by Reps. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.).
- "Our colleagues seek to litigate longstanding federal law at the expense of our service members. Undercutting confidence in our free and fair elections by disenfranchising our service men and women is unacceptable," the lawmakers wrote.
- The Democrats asked Austin to clarify how he plans to administer the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA, a federal law facilitating overseas absentee voting.
The intrigue: Ryan himself voted from Iraq in 2008 while serving as a U.S. Army intelligence officer, his office told Axios.
- "I'll be damned if I'm gonna let a bunch of traitors stop our troops from voting," he said in a post on X.
The other side: Reschenthaler's office, asked about the letter, referred to his statement accompanying the lawsuit that "the Pennsylvania Department of State is unlawfully diluting the rightful ballots of the brave men and women who serve our nation and their family members."
- "In the Navy JAG Corps, I made daily trips into the red zone in Baghdad, this is personal to me. I will always stand up for those in uniform who deserve to have their right to a secure election protected," he added.
Zoom out: The lawsuit is one of many Republicans have filed to challenge the legitimacy of state and local voting procedures.
- House Republicans have also tried to play up non-citizen voting as an issue, including with several unsuccessful attempts to to create a federal law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
- Democrats have accused Republicans of laying the groundwork to allow Trump to once again baselessly claim the election was stolen if he loses.
