RNC sues Nevada, amping up nationwide campaign against overseas voters

The Republican National Committee sued Nevada Friday, marking the third GOP lawsuit against overseas voters within a week and the latest escalation in a fast-moving national campaign to restrict voting access for U.S. citizens abroad.

The lawsuit challenges a Nevada law that allows certain Americans living overseas to vote in the state if they were born outside the U.S. and vote based on a parent or legal guardian’s last residence in the state.

The RNC, Nevada Republican Party and election denier Jim Marchant, the Republican nominee for Nevada secretary of state, are suing Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, a Democrat. The complaint also names the Democratic National Committee and Nevada State Democratic Party as parties in the case.

The GOP’s suit targets so-called “never-resident” voters — U.S. citizens born and living abroad who inherit voting rights from their parents or guardians. Republicans argue Nevada’s constitution requires voters to have “actually, as opposed to constructively” resided in the state before casting a ballot.

The complaint puts the GOP’s theory in stark terms.

“A person who has never resided in Nevada is not—and cannot be made—a resident of Nevada by legislative fiat,” the lawsuit argues. “A parent’s former domicile or voting eligibility cannot serve as a substitute for an individual’s actual residence.”

The lawsuit asks the court to block Nevada from accepting registrations, issuing ballots or counting ballots from these voters. It also seeks to cancel existing voter registrations created under the challenged law, update public-facing election guidance and notify the federal voting assistance program that these voters are ineligible in Nevada.

The Nevada lawsuit comes after the RNC sued Nebraska and Colorado the same week over similar overseas voting rules. The RNC has now filed overseas voter lawsuits in Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Virginia, Arizona, North Carolina and Michigan.

Michigan courts have already rejected the GOP’s attempt to restrict voting access for overseas families, ruling in April that state lawmakers had authority to protect those voters.

But the new Nevada filing shows Republicans are pressing ahead anyway — state by state — in a rapidly escalating effort to narrow the electorate for Americans abroad.