Trump’s Misguided Assault on Overseas Voters Poses Risks

I focus my research on racist and xenophobic rhetoric. As an American citizen who has been voting from abroad since 1996—first in the U.K. and currently in Canada—I bring a personal perspective to these issues.

This background allows me to provide insight into Donald Trump’s recent post on Truth Social regarding overseas voters and the Republican party’s attempts to undermine them. Such statements are factually incorrect and politically perilous.

The existing legislation that governs voting rights for Americans living overseas is the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, a law enacted by Republican President Ronald Reagan.

The Department of Defense manages the federal program that helps U.S. citizens vote while living abroad—a fitting responsibility since many overseas voters are military personnel. This context should dispel any notions that facilitating overseas voting is somehow a liberal plot.

Voting Complications

Voting from overseas is far from straightforward. Each state has its own specific procedures for confirming citizenship after they receive the registration and ballot request, and these rules vary significantly from one state to another.

For instance, my home state of New Jersey allows me to email my registration request, receive my ballot via email, and then send it back, but I must also mail the paper version of my ballot to ensure my vote counts.

While this process is manageable for me from Canada or the U.K., it becomes much more challenging for Americans in regions with unreliable mail services, often forcing them to resort to costly courier options to fulfill their civic duties.

Take my husband’s state, New York, for example. He can email his ballot request, but he is also required to send a mailed paper version of that request. The ballot itself comes with complex envelope templates that necessitate precise folding, and they must adhere to strict deadlines, regardless of their origin.

My husband, a former graphic designer, manages these requirements without much difficulty. However, picture someone with arthritis or vision problems attempting to navigate this process—especially with home-printed ballots containing small text. Voting from abroad is no small feat.

Why, then, use provocative language to imply that generating numerous fraudulent overseas votes is straightforward? One possible motive is to create doubts about the election results. Any tactic that introduces uncertainty or hinders ballot counting could be exploited to allow Trump and his allies to falsely declare victory on November 5.

Trump’s campaign has been explicit about its intent to follow this course of action.

Portraying American citizens living abroad as less legitimate fits into a broader strategy of fostering division while defining stricter boundaries of who counts as a “real” American. This is a classic tactic associated with fascist ideologies, establishing a narrow “us” deserving of moral consideration against a broader “them” who are not.

Marginalizing Citizens Abroad

Critically, the movement against overseas voters extends beyond social media attacks. There are ongoing lawsuits across several states aimed at disenfranchising American citizens living abroad. These individuals often endure significant hurdles to fulfill their voting obligations, frequently incurring substantial personal costs in the process.

Efforts from Trump and his allies aim to hinder the basic rights of citizenship for Americans overseas. When he or others claim that overseas voters engage in fraud or foreign meddling, it implies that those citizens are somehow not true Americans.

This presents a serious issue, particularly since many Americans abroad are members of the military. Actions to disenfranchise these citizens also jeopardize the voting rights of our armed forces. Disenfranchising Americans overseas puts military personnel at risk of disenfranchisement as well.

Deceptive Narratives

Trump’s claim on Truth Social that Democrats “want to dilute the TRUE vote of our beautiful military” is perplexing. This accusation becomes even more absurd when considering he is targeting the very legislation that enables military members to vote from abroad, ballots for which may include his own votes if they choose.

I refer to this kind of rhetoric as a figleaf—a superficial statement that allows the speaker to veil a more controversial message. This particular accusation implies support for the military while intentionally obscuring its context.

Moreover, Trump’s “diluting the vote” narrative aligns with the profoundly racist Great Replacement Theory. This theory asserts that Democrats and other shadowy forces (often anti-Semitically portrayed) are conspiring to replace white Americans with immigrants, as a means to secure electoral advantages.

While overseas voting may seem a niche concern, the votes of these citizens could potentially influence close elections. Attacks on overseas voting are part of a much larger and troubling narrative from Trump regarding the identity of “real” Americans.