Judge questions last-minute lawsuit on overseas voter checks in Pennsylvania
A federal judge in Pennsylvania is looking at a lawsuit about checking overseas voters IDs. The case‚ brought by Republicans just weeks before the election‚ wants new steps to check military and other overseas voters
In Harrisburg‚ Pennsylvania a federal judge named Christopher Conner is looking at a lawsuit that wants to change how overseas voters are checked. The case was brought by six Republican congressmen and a conservative group‚ but the judge isnt sure about it.
Conner asked why they waited so long to complain about rules that have been used for years He also wasnt sure if the people suing are actually hurt by the current system‚ which is important for this kind of case.
The people suing want to make sure overseas voters (like soldiers) are who they say they are. They think the current way of doing things might let some wrong votes slip through But the state says thats not true and changing things now would be a big problem.
Kate Marsh Lord‚ who works with military families‚ thinks its not nice to question their votes. She said‚ “Its insulting that there had to be an argument about whether or not our votes should be set aside or counted“
Plaintiffs proffer no excuse for their delay
The stateʼs lawyers say its too late to change anything now - voting has already started and more than 25000 overseas ballots have been sent out. They also say that federal laws dont require extra checks for these voters.
This case is important because Pennsylvania could decide who wins the presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Military voters often like Republicans more‚ but other overseas voters tend to prefer Democrats
The judge didnt make a decision right away‚ but he seemed to think the case was “creative“ - which might not be a good thing for the people who filed it
