Information from the US Voting Committee details some of the threats to the right of overseas Americans to vote absentee in US elections. The Committee expects those threats to continue through the 2026 midterm elections to the seating of the next Congress in January 2027.
This article lists some of the most recent threats at the state and federal levels. Feeling alarmed about these is reasonable, but taking every action that we can to defend our rights is more useful. The best things for FAWCO clubs and members to do are to keep calm, keep assisting overseas voters and keep defending and exercising our constitutional right to vote.
What we can do
Here's what FAWCO clubs and members can do about the mounting threats to overseas Americans’ rights and US democracy.
1. Stay informed
Stay informed about developments, so that you can react to them as needed, by getting your news from reliable sources. For example, voters in some states may find that they have been gerrymandered into new voting districts or purged from the voter rolls altogether; to discover and take action in the latter case, they need to verify their registration status and contact their local election officials. The linked article is six years old, but its principles still hold. An additional suggestion in these days of deepfakes and AI is to check statements with the verified media and social media accounts of the sources.
The US Voting Committee will do its best to inform you of developments that affect overseas voters through the website, Committee members and FAWCO publications such as News in Brief and the US Issues Bulletin. Click here to subscribe to them.
To join the US Voting Committee, ask questions or suggest action, email .
2. Keep helping overseas voters
Keep helping overseas voters:
- to register to vote/request a ballot; and
- to make a plan to return valid ballots in both primary elections and the general election.
The linked articles include advice for both individual overseas voters and FAWCO clubs and members.
3. Keep defending our rights
Defend overseas voting rights by:
- making (and updating if necessary) your plan to ensure that you can vote in the 2026 election;
- sharing your views with your communities and representatives in Congress; and
- donating to organizations and candidates that support the rights of all US citizens.
For example, share this handy new tool to defend voting by mail: a video from the American Postal Workers Union. While it doesn’t mention civilian voters overseas, overseas military voters get a nod.
To contact your Representative and Senators in Congress, phone the Capitol switchboard at +1 (202) 224-3121 and ask for the office of your Senator or Representative by name. If you’re not sure of those names, look up your Representative by a search using the zip code of your US voting address. You can also look up your elected officials’ direct office numbers on the websites of the House of Representatives and the Senate. If you’re not sure how to talk to your Congresspeople, organizations such as 5 Calls have sample scripts on various issues.
In addition, consider supporting the nonpartisan organizations mentioned in the next section—including FAWCO partner the US Vote Foundation—in their efforts to protect voting rights and infrastructure.
To join the US Voting Committee, ask questions or suggest action, email .
Threats to the integrity of US elections
As mentioned, the integrity of US elections—and the rights of all voters, including those who live overseas—are facing significant threats. These shenanigans can be expected to continue up to and perhaps through the seating of the next Congress in January 2027.
Many states are seeking to limit voting rights, with considerable pushback in court.
At the federal level, the current US administration is trying to take control of election infrastructure, even though the Constitution gives control of elections to the states and Congress, not the President. The Department of Justice has filed lawsuits seeking copies of:
states’ complete voter registration lists, including voters’ highly sensitive data like birthdates, partial Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers. The Justice Department has filed federal lawsuits against 29 states (so far) and Washington, DC, seeking orders compelling these jurisdictions to turn over their data.
Despite voting by mail himself, the President issued an executive order at the end of march against voting by mail. The Brennan Center for Justice says that the order:
charge[s] the US Postal Service (USPS) with determining who may vote by mail and instructs it to refuse to deliver ballots sent by anyone not included on newly created federal mail voter lists. It threatens criminal penalties for election officials, mail carriers, and others who send ballots to or deliver ballots from individuals the administration deems ineligible. … it also orders the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to compile lists of voting-age US citizens in every state, using incomplete and unreliable federal data sources.
A lawsuit against the order was filed on April 2 by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters, the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), the US Vote Foundation, OCA—Asian Pacific American Advocates and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Massachusetts, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) and LatinoJustice PRLDEF.
In a move unleashing yet more partisan gerrymandering before the 2026 election, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling on April 29 that gutted the sixty-year-old Voting Rights Act. According to The New York Times:
the court opened the door for other states to redraw maps. ... The practical consequences are clear: states will now be able to eliminate minority opportunity congressional districts across the South and challengers will face a nearly impossible burden to prove discrimination.
As a result, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee and have all announced quick gerrymanders, potentially netting one political party as many as six new seats, aside from the four that Florida proposes with its own new map. In fact, Louisiana is already getting started; Louisiana officials delayed US House primaries so lawmakers can draw a new congressional map—and have announced that any votes already cast in the planned primaries will not be counted.
The time for every US citizen, everywhere, to take action to defend voting rights and legitimate elections is now. To join FAWCO’s US Voting Committee, ask questions or suggest action, email .
