Trump officials changed forms for overseas voters amid a GOP push to restrict voting
The Trump administration has made last-minute changes to key absentee-voting forms for U.S. citizens living abroad, raising concerns about confusing some overseas voters during this year's midterm elections.
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administration → change → elections
The revisions to two forms came in late August from the Pentagon.
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revisions → come → Pentagon
The department runs the voting assistance program that provides forms allowing eligible overseas citizens, plus U.S. military members and their families, to register for and participate in federal elections.
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citizens → run → elections
Weeks before a Sept. 19 deadline for states to send those voters midterm ballots, the Pentagon submitted "emergency" requests to bypass the usual months-long process for changing federal forms.
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Pentagon → send → forms
Among the changes was removing a checkbox for an overseas U.S. citizen to identify as having "never lived in the United States."
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citizen → remove → States
The removal leaves only two response options for those without an active-duty military connection.
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removal → leave → connection
Both options require overseas citizens to make a sworn declaration: Either they intend to return to the U.S. or are uncertain about returning.
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they → require → U.S.
But some U.S. citizens who were born abroad have never lived in the United States at all.
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who → bear → States
Many states and Washington, D.C., allow what are often referred to as "never-resided" citizens to vote if they have a relative who last lived in that state or territory before leaving the U.S., including a parent or legal guardian serving in the military.
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who → allow → military
Since 2024, however, Republican officials have been pushing to block these U.S. citizens from voting.
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officials → push → citizens
In lawsuits, GOP officials have argued state laws and other rules permitting voting by never-resided citizens violate state constitutions.
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laws → argue → constitutions
They also have claimed in court filings that these U.S. citizens are disproportionately registered as non-Republican voters and allowing them to cast ballots hurts GOP chances of winning elections.
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them → claim → elections
While Republican court challenges have been successful in North Carolina, they have been rebuffed twice in Michigan as similar lawsuits continue in Arizona and at least five other states.
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lawsuits → rebuff → Arizona
For now, eligible never-resided voters can continue to register and request ballots through any alternative ways provided by the state or territory where they are eligible to vote.
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they → reside → state
And the Pentagon's Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) says state election officials can keep processing previous versions of its forms.
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officials → say → forms
Asked by NPR how long that can continue, the Pentagon said in a statement: "States administer elections and can process any form or application that provides the information required to verify a voter's eligibility to vote in their jurisdiction."
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that → ask → jurisdiction
Still, many overseas and military voting advocates are worried the new federal form changes, which were reported earlier by the outlet Democracy Docket, are setting up the latest hurdle to the ballot box for U.S. citizens living abroad.
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which → worry → citizens
Trump officials removed an overseas voter category that's been on forms for more than a decade
Some version of the checkbox for never-resided voters has been on what's known as the "Federal Post Card Application" and the "Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot" since 2013.
"I actually worked that regulation to change the form.
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I → remove → form
But I didn't want to do it right in the middle of the 2012 election, so I had it effective come 2013," says Bob Carey, a retired U.S. Navy captain who led FVAP until departing in 2012.
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who → want → 2012
Carey recalls the idea of adding a category for never-resided voters came from some state election officials and overseas voting advocates.
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idea → recall → officials
"At the time, I was sort of saying to myself, 'OK, this won't make that big of a difference.
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this → say → difference
I'll add the block,' " Carey adds.
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Carey → add → block
But more than a decade later, the Pentagon says it has changed its interpretation of a federal law known as the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
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it → say → Act
"It has recently come to our attention that the current format of these forms may confuse voters about the information they are required to provide under Federal law and their eligibility to use these forms to register and vote," Sean O'Keefe, the Pentagon's deputy under secretary for personnel and readiness, wrote in a letter about the August emergency requests for changing the forms.
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O'Keefe → come → forms
It's not clear what exactly prompted the Pentagon to reassess these forms, which now also include revised language about voter identification.
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which → prompt → identification
But days after a White House agency approved the requests, FVAP said the forms "have been updated" in social media posts.
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forms → approve → posts
The Pentagon started a public comment period about each form more than a week later.
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Pentagon → start → form
And guidance for state election officials was not posted on FVAP's website until about a month after the forms changed.
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forms → post → website
In a statement, the Pentagon said FVAP has also directly notified election officials and voters by email, though it provided no additional details.
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it → say → details
Some military and overseas voting advocates say the Pentagon should do more outreach in the middle of voting season for the midterm elections.
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Pentagon → say → elections
"If I was the under secretary of defense for personnel readiness, to which FVAP reports, or the secretary of defense, I'd be calling up the [FVAP] director and saying, 'Spam the crap out of everyone,' " says Carey, who now serves as executive director of the National Defense Committee, a veterans advocacy organization focused on voting and other civil rights.
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who → report → voting
Overseas voting advocates worry the changes will cause — not eliminate — confusion
Sarah Streyder, executive director of Secure Families Initiative — a group that advocates for military families and challenged President Trump's failed push for mail-in voting restrictions for the midterms — says she's concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding the Pentagon's process for changing the forms.
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she → worry → forms
"What were the voices prompting this change?
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voices → prompt → change
Where did this come from?
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this → come → Where
Military families are stakeholders who should have been included, because we can speak most authoritatively on what truly causes confusion with these forms and what doesn't," Streyder adds.
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Streyder → include → forms
"That's our form you're messing with.
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you → mess → ?
And you didn't even ask us for the input.
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you → ask → input
The Pentagon emphasized in a statement that the forms were changed to "eliminate voter confusion."
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forms → emphasize → confusion
But Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the U.S. Vote Foundation, an advocacy organization for overseas voters, says she expects the opposite to happen.
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opposite → say → voters
"I definitely believe that the new version of the form will create far more confusion than we ever encountered with any previous version," Dzieduszycka-Suinat says.
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Suinat → believe → version
…and 6 more, not listed.
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