GOP Pushes New Bill That Would Strip Voting Rights From Overseas Citizens

Republicans have launched their latest attack on the voting rights of U.S. citizens living abroad.

A new bill introduced by three GOP House members, called the Protecting Our Voter Eligibility (PROVE) Act, would force nonmilitary overseas voters to prove they maintain a “current residence” in the United States with a verifiable mailing address.

If they cannot, the bill declares, the individual shall not be treated as a resident of a state for purposes of voting in an election for federal office and instead would be “considered a resident of the District of Columbia” for that election.

U.S. citizens living abroad would lose their ability to cast absentee ballots in the state they or their families call home.

Instead, their only option would be a symbolic federal-only ballot in Washington, D.C., where there is no voting representation in Congress. And because D.C. has consistently and overwhelmingly voted for Democratic presidential candidates, this provision would, in effect, neutralize the votes of millions of U.S. citizens abroad.

A coalition of voting rights groups, including the U.S. Vote Foundation, which helps Americans abroad navigate voting, condemned the legislation as a radical disenfranchisement effort that would end long-standing protections under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).

“This is voter suppression,” the coalition said in a joint statement. “It’s already challenging to vote from abroad. This bill would push participation toward zero.”

Voting advocates say the legislation, though framed as a matter of “residency verification,” is nothing more than a partisan attack on the overseas electorate. It singles out civilians abroad — not active-duty military — in a way that would disproportionately silence civilian voices that now make up the majority of UOCAVA voters.

“This is a naked attempt to silence a segment of the American electorate that is already underrepresented. Overseas voting is complex enough without invented barriers,” the coalition added. “There is no justification for this bill.”

This bill is the latest flashpoint in a growing campaign by Republicans to undermine overseas voting. Earlier this year, Democracy Docket reported on a wave of GOP lawsuits and bills in states like Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina that targeted U.S. citizens born abroad who inherit their right to vote through a parent.

In each case, courts rejected Republican efforts to disqualify their ballots, but the strategy has persisted.

Republicans are now taking that fight to the federal level. If passed, the PROVE Act would apply “with respect to elections held during 2026 or any succeeding year.”