Judge rejects GOP congressmens’ lawsuit challenging vetting process for Pennsylvania overseas ballots

A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out a Republican lawsuit that sought to segregate overseas ballots in Pennsylvania for additional vetting.

A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out a Republican lawsuit that sought to segregate overseas ballots in Pennsylvania for additional vetting. US District Judge Chris Cooper said that the challengers to Pennsylvania’s policies for overseas ballots filed by GOP members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation and an outside group came too late and that it was too close to the election for a court to intervene. The overseas vote has long been viewed as sacrosanct because of its connection to the military vote, and the Pennsylvania lawsuit – which would have jeopardized the ballots of service people abroad – drew a sharp backlash. In recent election cycles, the civilian expat community has outnumbered military voters casting ballots. Democrats have touted their effort to turn out their voters abroad. Tuesday’s ruling comes on the heels of court losses for Republicans in Michigan and North Carolina in Republican National Committee lawsuits that challenged overseas ballots cast by voters who had never lived in those states but were eligible to vote because of familial ties to those states. Those cases have been appealed, but the Michigan appeal will not be resolved before the election. Cooper said that the court order that Republicans were asking for was a “nonstarter.”