RNC Sues Arizona To Block Voting Access for Overseas U.S. Citizens

By Yunior Rivas

Waving flags of the USA and the US state of Arizona against blue sky backdrop.

Republicans filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block a state law that allows certain U.S. citizens living abroad to vote in Arizona elections. 

The Arizona law at issue permits overseas U.S. citizens to register to vote in Arizona if one of their parents is a registered Arizona voter. The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the state GOP argue that the statute violates the Arizona Constitution’s residency requirement for voting.

The plaintiffs also argue that voters allowed under the challenged law are “disproportionately non-Republican,” citing internal data showing that only 18.2% of overseas voters in Maricopa County are registered Republicans, compared to 51.3% who are registered Democrats.

“Democrats want to cheat in our elections by allowing votes from people who have never established legal residency,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley said in a press release.

This new challenge fits into a broader Republican legal strategy to undermine overseas voting access. In North Carolina, Republican Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin tried to have overseas voters disenfranchised as part of his failed effort earlier this year to overturn the results of the election. 

The lawsuit also reflects Republicans’ ongoing effort to sow distrust in the electoral process by pushing the narrative that ineligible voters are routinely casting ballots — a claim that is unsubstantiated and feeds into Trump’s “Big Lie.”

“Today’s lawsuit by the Republican Party of Arizona and the Republican National Committee is nothing more than a deliberate attempt to suppress the voices of eligible voters—many of whom are the adult children of our military service members and American diplomats,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said in a statement. “That so-called ‘legal action’ would strip away the basic right to participate in democracy is shameful, especially when it targets families who have served this nation with honor.

I want to assure every Arizonan that my office stands firmly with voters, not political operatives. We will vigorously defend the rights of those who call Arizona home and uphold the integrity of our electoral system against these brazen attempts at disenfranchisement.”