Federal Overseas Voting Form Challenge (DNC)
Democratic National Committee v. U.S. Department of Defense
A pro-voting lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s change to a federal form that eliminated the option for certain overseas U.S. citizens to register to vote and request absentee ballots.
Background
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sued the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) after the Trump administration removed an option from a federal form that allowed U.S. citizens born and living abroad to register to vote and request a mail ballot.The lawsuit alleges that, by rushing to remove this option on the form, the DOD and OMB violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by failing to carefully weigh the impact of implementing the revision to the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) form. The DNC asks the court to reinstate the previous version of the FPCA form, restoring the checkbox for these eligible voters.
Why it Matters
The Trump administration made this change to the FPCA form around the same time as an RNC campaign in several states to restrict certain U.S. citizens living overseas from voting. This is an ongoing effort by the GOP to make voting more difficult for overseas voters, who they claim tend to favor Democratic candidates.
Latest Updates:
- Oct. 1: Plaintiff filed their complaint.