Sponsors (5)
The bill tightens absentee‑by‑mail rules to reduce mailed‑ballot fraud and preserve a limited voting option for displaced overseas voters, but it risks denying many nonmilitary overseas voters their home‑state voting rights, shifting representation to D.C. for a single election, and imposing verification costs on election officials.
All U.S. voters benefit from tighter absentee-mailing rules because states and the Presidential designee will send absentee ballots only to voters who provide a verifiable in‑State mailing address, reducing the risk of mailed‑ballot fraud and delivery errors.
Overseas voters who lack a verifiable in‑State mailing address retain the ability to participate in the federal general election through an option to vote in the D.C. election, preserving some access rather than outright disenfranchisement.
Nonmilitary overseas voters who cannot provide a verifiable in‑State mailing address may be denied absentee ballots from their home states, preventing them from voting for their state Senators and Representatives.
Treating displaced overseas voters as D.C. residents for a single federal election shifts their votes away from their home states and can dilute or misallocate representation for local constituencies, which is not a substitute for voting for their actual home‑state members of Congress.
States and the Presidential designee will face increased administrative workload and verification costs to confirm in‑State mailing addresses, raising election administration expenses for state and local governments.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires nonmilitary overseas voters to provide a verifiable in‑State mailing address (self or spouse/parent/guardian) before a state may send a federal absentee ballot, with a D.C. alternative if not provided.
Introduced August 1, 2025 by Abraham J. Hamadeh · Last progress August 1, 2025
Requires nonmilitary U.S. citizens living overseas to provide a verifiable in‑State mailing address (their own or that of a spouse, parent, or legal guardian) before a State or the Presidential designee may send a Federal absentee ballot. If an overseas voter does not provide such an in‑State address for a regular general election for Federal office, the voter may instead vote in that same‑date general election as if they were a District of Columbia resident for that election. The rule excludes absent uniformed services voters and takes effect for elections in 2026 and later.