Trump admin quietly changed overseas voter form at 11th hour to disenfranchise Democrats, lawsuit says

The Trump administration illegally changed a form used by overseas voters to register and request mail ballots just weeks before the midterms, Democrats argue in a new lawsuit filed Thursday. 

“These American citizens pay U.S. federal and state taxes, but now a years-old plan has culminated in a manufactured ‘emergency’ to justify impeding their right to vote in American elections and potentially disenfranchising them entirely,” the Democratic National Committee writes in its complaint.

The change is part of a Republican plan to make it more difficult to vote or outright disenfranchise a bloc of voters viewed as more inclined to vote Democratic, the lawsuit argues. The Trump administration has waged a war on mail-in voting, taking its attempt to restrict a voting method used more often by Democrats all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before ultimately losing.

The Democrats are asking a federal court in Washington, D.C., to block the administration from using the altered form for violating the Administrative Procedure Act.

At the center of the dispute is the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) used by military families and other citizens abroad to register to vote. 

In August, the Pentagon removed a checkbox on the FPCA for citizens living abroad who have never resided in the U.S. It did so on an “emergency” basis, bypassing the typical and often lengthy process for modifying federal forms required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

The change could make it harder for some overseas voters to get a ballot, particularly those who are eligible to vote in states that allow citizens born abroad to participate in elections even if they’ve never resided in the country. According to Overseas Vote, an initiative of the U.S. Vote Foundation, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have extended voting rights to U.S. citizens born abroad who have not established residency in the U.S.

The DNC says the administration’s “actions have baselessly questioned the voting rights of U.S. citizens born and remaining abroad who meet state eligibility requirements.”

The party contends that the administration has patently political motivations in making the change.

“U.S. citizens born and remaining abroad are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans,” the DNC writes.

“In 2024, the Republican National Committee (RNC) began a state-by-state litigation campaign to invalidate state laws authorizing U.S. citizens born and remaining abroad to vote, based on purported conflicts with state constitutions. In these suits, the RNC specifically alleged that these so-called ‘never-resident voters overwhelmingly favor Democratic candidates,’” Democrats say.

They add, “Rather than attempt to earn their votes, the RNC targeted their fundamental rights.”