Democrats this week slammed Republicans for attempting to obstruct voting for military service members after some GOP lawmakers filed lawsuits targeting overseas voters.
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), an Army veteran who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter — along with five other Democrats — to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raising concerns about six Republicans filing a lawsuit in Pennsylvania to restrict the ballots of overseas voters.
In a Monday statement, Ryan said “election-denying extremists are trying to disenfranchise our men and women in uniform.”
“It’s disgraceful and anti-democratic,” Ryan said. “These are quite literally troops who raised their right hands and swore an oath to protect and defend our Constitution — and now extremists are stripping them of their constitutional rights.
“This isn’t about Democrats and Republicans. It’s about doing right by those putting their lives on the line for our country, and they deserve to know immediately their right to vote will be protected,” he added.
The Pennsylvania lawsuit seeks to stop the counting of overseas ballots until identities of the voters are verified, citing concerns about state laws that do not require voter identification or eligibility. The Washington Post first reported the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed last week by Pennsylvania GOP Reps. Guy Reschenthaler, Dan Meuser, Glenn Thompson, Lloyd Smucker, Mike Kelly, and Scott Perry. All six of the lawmakers did not vote to certify the 2020 election for President Biden in January 2021.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) also filed lawsuits in Michigan and North Carolina last week targeting overseas voters and accusing state election officials of allowing overseas voters who have never lived in the states to vote there.
RNC Chair Michael Whatley said in a statement that “North Carolinians and Michiganders should not have their votes canceled by those who’ve never lived in the state in the first place.”
“This is illegal and we will stop it,” he said. “While Democrats want an election system that disregards the law, we are committed to election integrity across the country.”
The lawsuits are challenging the Uniform and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which requires states to allow eligible U.S. citizens living abroad to vote in the election.
There are about 200,000 American service members stationed across the world, while other U.S. citizens are at embassies or involved in other government work. U.S. citizens who live outside the country are also eligible to vote.
Biden in 2021 issued an executive order that strengthened voting policies, including for overseas and military voters.
In many states, early voting has already begun, including mail-in and absentee voting. Republicans also raised concerns about mail-in and absentee voting in the 2020 election, which former President Trump and his allies have continued to falsely claim was stolen.
In the letter to Austin, Democrats said they had “deep concern” about the lawsuit in Pennsylvania and asked for clarification on how the defense secretary would ensure the law protecting eligible overseas voters, including in the military, was enforced.
“My colleagues are attempting to usurp the right to vote from our men and women in uniform, as well as their families,” they wrote. “These Americans who raised their right hand and swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution may be stripped of one of the most fundamental rights it guarantees.”
In addition to Ryan, the letter was signed by Pennsylvania Democratic Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan, along with Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Salud Carbajal (Calif.).
Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, said she was “deeply ashamed of my colleagues who are trying to prevent members of our military” from voting.
“We cannot allow six Republican Pennsylvanian members, the same ones who refused to certify the 2020, to toss aside those rights and disenfranchise the very people who are serving us and are in harm’s way across the globe,” she said in a statement.