Dem
47
GOP
53
If a U.S. citizen living abroad has a child abroad, in almost all cases that person is a U.S. citizen, even if one parent is not a citizen. A case that comes to mind is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who was born in Canada but thought he was a natural-born citizen so he could run for president in 2016. Also, John McCain was born on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone and ran for president.
Nevertheless, Republicans are now trying to disenfranchise some U.S. citizens who live abroad. Their reasoning is simple: They think the majority of the nearly 3 million U.S. citizens living abroad are Democrats, even though no one really knows since it is difficult to do a random survey of them. The Republicans are specifically going after U.S. citizens who were born abroad to one or two U.S. citizen parents but have never lived in the U.S. Since they are citizens they have a right to vote in federal elections, but where? Current law says in the state where their parents most recently lived.
Last year, the RNC challenged the votes of U.S. citizens abroad who had never lived in the U.S. in Michigan and North Carolina. In Michigan, the judge was disgusted and threw the case out. In North Carolina, the GOP candidate for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court pushed hard on this. A state court ruled that citizens who voted in North Carolina but never lived there could vote only in federal elections, not state ones. While the group affected is small and only in one state and only for state elections, the RNC is hoping to expand the ruling.
North Carolina state Rep. Hugh Blackwell (R) has filed a bill to deprive all non-resident North Carolinians from voting in all elections. If successful, it would create a class of U.S. citizens who can't vote. This has never happened to white males before. In Congress, Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) has introduced a bill to require overseas voters to prove they have a U.S. residence in order to vote. This would take Blackwell's bill and go national.
Part of the motivation from the Republicans' push is the shift in demographics of Americans abroad. It used to be primarily military. A recent estimate now shows that in 2024, 40% of overseas voters are service personnel or their families. That makes it easier for Republicans. Still, Democrats can say: "A large minority of Americans overseas are soldiers there to defend our freedom and Republicans want to forbid their adult children from voting? What are they fighting for, anyway?"
Hamadeh's bill may prove a bridge too far (and will probably be filibustered in the Senate unless it is tucked into a bigger bill), so Republicans have a Plan B: Require overseas voters to prove their citizenship when registering. But making people send photocopies of their passports to some state offices opens all kinds of security issues and could lead to identity theft. This may cause some eligible voters to not register. Yet another point of contention is the slow mail. Voters in some countries can post their ballot 2 weeks before the election and have it arrive after Election Day. Many blue states offer a grace period for ballots postmarked before Election Day, even if they arrive later. Red states generally do not. The battle is likely to continue. (V)