More than 200 veterans and military families in North Carolina and Pennsylvania are calling Republican efforts to challenge overseas ballots “a betrayal,” in an open letter backed by the Harris campaign and signed by congressional Democrats.
Republican lawsuits in both states have questioned the legitimacy of overseas ballots, a move the Harris campaign coalition said was intended “to undermine the ability of our military families and veterans living abroad to vote.”
“For those of us who sacrifice so much for this country, to have our right to vote questioned or impeded is nothing short of a betrayal,” the group said in the letter, which was obtained by Newsweek.
Pennsylvania Democratic Representatives Chrissy Houlahan and Chris Deluzio; former Representative Christopher Carney, a Democrat from Pennsylvania; and Meg Snead, a former senior Pennsylvania state official, signed the letter.
The group also criticized former President Donald Trump for using the lawsuits brought by the Republican National Committee and other groups to amplify false claims about voter fraud.
Trump said without evidence last month that Democrats were violating a decades-old law by sending absentee ballots to members of the military and others living overseas without verifying their U.S. citizenship.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, at a campaign rally in Detroit on October 18. Trump has received criticism over his unsupported claims of voter fraud related to Americans living abroad.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
“The Democrats are talking about how they’re working so hard to get millions of votes from Americans living overseas,” Trump said in a late-September post on Truth Social, adding, “Actually, they are getting ready to CHEAT!”
Newsweek has contacted the RNC and Trump campaign for comment.
Last week, a state judge in Michigan rejected an RNC lawsuit challenging overseas votes cast by people who never lived in the United States. The judge called the challenge an “11th hour attempt to disenfranchise” voters.
A North Carolina state judge also rejected a similar GOP lawsuit last week, writing that “there is absolutely no evidence” of voter fraud in the matter.
The RNC said in a statement that it would appeal the rulings. A separate RNC lawsuit on the issue in Pennsylvania is still pending.
The letter from the Harris campaign coalition comes as early voting is underway across the key swing states that will likely determine the outcome of the race.
With less than two weeks before Election Day, Harris and Trump have recently made multiple trips to North Carolina, Pennsylvania and other battleground states in the hopes of boosting turnout.
