Overseas voting has become the latest battlefront in Republicans’ legal challenges leading up to the election.
Judges in two crucial battleground states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, this week heard Republicans’ claims that officials are improperly accepting thousands of overseas ballots and could be opening the door to fraud.
And in North Carolina, a judge is scheduled to hold a hearing Monday in a similar case.
State election officials are pushing back, insisting they are complying with legal requirements and warning the lawsuits are part of a broader campaign to sow the seeds for postelection challenges.
Overseas ballots make up a relatively small portion of the electorate: Officials counted nearly 890,000 nationwide in 2020, according to data from the federal Election Assistance Commission.
But the group could make a sizable impact as polls show a razor-tight presidential race in critical battlegrounds with just more than two weeks until Election Day.
The series of new legal challenges comes as the voting bloc — which comprises uniformed service members stationed abroad , their families and U.S. citizens living overseas — is viewed as increasingly Democratic.