RNC Sues Virginia to Invalidate Law Letting Some Never‑Resident Americans Vote
The Republican National Committee, along with RITE PAC and Arlington GOP chair Matthew Hurtt, has filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court for the City of Richmond accusing Virginia election officials of violating the state constitution by registering and counting ballots from U.S. citizens who have never lived in Virginia. The suit targets a state statute that lets certain overseas citizens vote in Virginia based on it being their parent’s last eligible voting residence, a provision the RNC says conflicts with constitutional residency requirements and improperly allows 'nonresidents' — including people who have never lived in the United States — to cast Virginia ballots. RNC chair Joe Gruters and election‑integrity spokeswoman Ally Triolo frame the case as part of a broader campaign to "close that loophole" nationwide, noting that at least 27 other states have similar rules and that this is the fourth such challenge after filings in Michigan, Arizona and North Carolina. Federal law already lets military members and their spouses vote absentee from their last U.S. residence, but the Virginia rule extends that right to some of their overseas-born adult children and to children of former Virginia residents now living abroad. With roughly 2.8 million voting‑age U.S. citizens overseas and midterms approaching, the case spotlights a quiet but growing partisan fight over how far states can go in enfranchising Americans abroad before, as critics put it, they dilute the votes of current residents.
📌 Key Facts
- The RNC, RITE PAC and organizer Matthew Hurtt filed suit Monday in the Circuit Court for the City of Richmond against the Virginia State Board of Elections and the Virginia Department of Elections.
- The lawsuit challenges a Virginia statute that allows certain U.S. citizens who have never lived in Virginia — or in some cases never lived in the United States — to vote there based on a parent’s last eligible Virginia voting residence.
- The RNC says this is its fourth lawsuit attacking similar 'nonresident' voting provisions and notes that 27 other states have comparable rules for overseas citizens.
- RNC officials argue the Virginia law conflicts with the state constitution’s residency requirement and say they are seeking a declaration that the statute is unconstitutional and an injunction limiting voting to residents who meet Virginia’s residency rules.
📊 Relevant Data
In 2022, an estimated 4.4 million U.S. citizens lived abroad, but only 3.4% of them voted in the General Election, indicating low participation rates among overseas voters.
Overseas U.S. Citizen Voter Participation - Too Low! — Overseas Vote Foundation
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) was enacted in 1986 to require states to allow certain U.S. citizens abroad, including those who have never resided in the U.S., to vote in federal elections based on their parents' last U.S. residence, in order to protect the voting rights of military families and expatriates whose children are born abroad.
Never Resided Voters — Federal Voting Assistance Program
Among civilian UOCAVA voters surveyed in 2020, 79% identified as White, compared to the U.S. population where non-Hispanic Whites make up about 60%, while 58% were female compared to 51% in the general U.S. population.
Voting from Abroad: A Survey of UOCAVA Voters — U.S. Election Assistance Commission
Overseas absentee votes have influenced outcomes in close U.S. elections, with Democrats winning 42 state legislative and congressional races in 2025 by margins smaller than the number of overseas votes cast in those races.
Democrats Abroad: Making an Impact in Global Democracy — Democrats Abroad
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