The Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of quietly altering a postcard used by Americans living abroad, making it more difficult for some citizens to register to vote.
According to the lawsuit, the Department of Defense invoked an emergency designation to remove a specific checkbox from the form.
The checkbox is generally used by prospective voters who confirm that they are U.S. citizens but have never lived in the country.
Many of those voters are children of American citizens. In 38 states, they can vote if they maintain close family ties to the state.
The checkbox has been included on postcards sent to overseas voters since 2013.
Republicans have brought lawsuits in several states seeking to block these voters—who generally favor Democrats—from casting ballots.
The DNC lawsuit argues that the administration changed the form without following the required notice procedures.
“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 lawsuit says.
The Department of Defense, which oversees the form, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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About 11,500 Americans living abroad who had never resided in the United States were estimated to have voted in U.S. elections in 2016.
The lawsuit says that figure has likely increased since then.
Some of these voters are already registered and are expected to receive ballots for November’s election.
Others may still select alternative boxes indicating that they are U.S. citizens who either plan to return to the country or do not plan to return, allowing them to receive ballots.
The form change comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged military personnel to vote in large numbers, suggesting that their ballots could outweigh Democratic support in places such as Detroit.
The federal law that permits overseas military members to vote also requires civilian Americans living abroad to receive the same opportunity.
However, because Democratic-leaning civilians overseas have outvoted Republican-leaning military voters in recent elections, Republicans have increasingly challenged the law, known as the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA. Republicans won a court ruling barring ballots from overseas citizens who have never lived in North Carolina from being counted there, but similar challenges remain unresolved in other states, including swing-state Michigan.
Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, a U.S. citizen living in Munich, said her 28-year-old daughter is also an American citizen who has never lived in the United States but votes regularly.
She described the administration’s action as deeply concerning.
“If this works in slicing off a piece of the electorate,” said Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president of the U.S. Vote Foundation, “wait until the next emergency.”
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