A federal lawsuit brought by six Republican members of Congress could force Pennsylvania to set aside ballots cast by U.S. troops and their families stationed overseas in next week’s election.
The Republican congressmen say that Pennsylvania should not count any overseas absentee votes — including military votes — without directly verifying the identity of the voter behind the ballot. But Pennsylvania officials along with state and national Democrats say that Pennsylvania’s process for absentee ballots complies with federal law and has been in place for numerous elections with virtually no sign that illegal or otherwise invalid votes have been counted. One veterans group argues that any last-minute change would throw out thousands of votes cast correctly by military members overseas.
One of the congressmen told Task & Purpose that the lawsuit is intended to protect legal votes and comply with federal law.
“The Pennsylvania Department of State’s improper guidance undermines the critical safeguards established by federal laws,” said Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), one of the lawmakers who filed the suit. “This lawsuit seeks to correct these violations and reinforce the principle that every legal vote must be counted with the utmost integrity and security.”
But a veteran’s advocate said while the Pennsylvania process is legal, the suit is aimed squarely at disenfranchising military members deployed and stationed overseas.
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“To think that it is a politically convenient thing to do to go after the ballots of people who have literal skin in the game –who are actively serving their country in many places overseas, some in very dangerous places – is just, I think, the height of cynicism,” said former Marine Capt. Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at increasing voter turnout among veterans.
Federal Laws for absentee votes
At issue is the identification verification requirements of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UNOCAVA, a 1986 law that allows troops overseas and their families to cast absentee ballots.
The Republican lawsuit accuses Pennsylvania voting officials of illegally exempting roughly 25,000 people who have received absentee ballots from verifying their identity. The lawmakers are asking that county election officials separate the UOCAVA ballots until the voters’ identities and eligibility can be verified.
“The Pennsylvania Secretary of State has directed counties not to verify the identity and eligibility of those requesting overseas ballots, in direct contradiction of state and federal law,” Meuser told Task & Purpose. “We must ensure that the votes of our brave service members and overseas citizens are protected from dilution and manipulation. Every illegal vote cancels out the legal vote of an American citizen.”
The lawmakers argue that the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, a separate federal law, requires voter applicants to include their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number when registering. If they have neither, the state can assign them a unique identifying number after verifying their identity with other documents.
In a response to the lawsuit, the Democratic National Committee and Pennsylvania Democratic Party argue that Pennsylvania election officials are not violating state or federal law. HAVA, for example, specifically exempts voters covered by UOCAVA from having to verify their identities the first time they vote, they wrote in an Oct. 11 brief.
The state and national Democrats also rejected the Republican lawmakers claim that HAVA requires that the state makes sure that the identifying information that voters provide matches data in a state or federal database before registering voters.
“Nothing in HAVA, however, requires states to confirm a match before processing a voter’s application,” the Democrats wrote.”
A guide for military and overseas voters published by Pennsylvania’s Department of State also says that troops and their families are not required to verify their identities to vote by absentee ballots.
“Ballots cast by ineligible voters occur at extremely low rates and are routinely investigated and prosecuted by the appropriate authorities when they occur,” said Matt Heckel, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State. “Individuals registering to vote must affirm that the information they submit is accurate, with any false statement subjecting them to a potential felony conviction, prison sentence and substantial fine.”
The lawsuit in Pennsylvania is similar to other Republican attempts to limit overseas voting in North Carolina and Michigan. Former President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform in September that Democrats would use UOCAVA to “CHEAT!” in the upcoming election.
These lawsuits imperil the ability of U.S. troops stationed overseas and their families to vote in next week’s election, said forGoldbeck, who ran for Congress in 2020 as a Democrat prior to joining Vet Voice Foundation, which is non-partisan.
“The Pennsylvania case is particularly alarming because the six congressmen who filed the lawsuit are members of Congress who also refused to certify President Biden’s win in 2020,” Goldbeck told Task & Purpose on Monday. “From my perspective as both a veteran and CEO of Vet Voice Foundation: This lawsuit is an attempt to disenfranchise military voters, and I think to sow confusion and potentially sow distrust in our electoral system.”
While in the Marines, Goldbeck said she served as a voting assistance officer. She saw firsthand how numerous checks and balances that voters must go through to cast absentee ballots. The votes themselves are secure, and the process has been in place for decades with no examples of widespread fraud.
This election could be decided by a relative handful of votes in Pennsylvania and other key states, so overseas ballots could prove to be decisive, Goldbeck said.