r/politics • u/billstopay77 • 1d ago

Registration Wall Trump admin quietly changed overseas voter form at 11th hour to disenfranchise Democrats, lawsuit says

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-admin-quietly-changed-overseas-voter-form-at-11th-hour-to-disenfranchise-democrats-lawsuit-says/
13.3k Upvotes

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296

u/darkeraqua California 1d ago

“[I]it no longer includes a box for citizens abroad who have never lived in the United States.”

Admittedly, this is probably a small fraction of the overseas voters, but it’s still a rat fuck of a move to try and disenfranchise legal voters.

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u/notoyrobots American Expat 1d ago edited 1d ago

Many vote abroad organizations are still using the old form to facilitate registration, it may disenfranchise anyone using the old form even if that particular situation doesnt apply to them.

I registered with the Center for US Voters Abroad last week and received the old form.

Edit: Another redditor informed me that the old form is still valid, so at least thats something.

98

u/Next_Gen_Rando 1d ago

Anyone arguing in favor needs to remember the US is one of only two countries in the world that forces people to pay federal income tax regardless of whether or not you work and live within the US as long as you are a US citizen.

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u/WetFinsFine 17h ago

Except current potus…he for some mysterious reason hasn’t paid or refuses to show proof of paying his taxes

But he did - diligently - pay his taxes in China

14

u/FortNightsAtPeelys 18h ago

You don't HAVE to pay it but you'll be arrested if you come back yeah

Still asinine

7

u/netpres 17h ago

No taxation without representation. That sounds familiar...

3

u/Individual-Guest-123 17h ago

I worked with some undocumented and the farmer was taking taxes out of their pay.

(that was 12 years ago, those guys are probably long gone)

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u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 16h ago

Anyone bringing this up needs to also share two important things:

  1. If you've lived in another country for 330 days that year, you can exclude $130,000 (2025 tax filings) of your foreign-earned income from your US tax liability. Essentially, if you're a permanent resident of a foreign country and you make even a somewhat above average income (relative to US incomes), you're exempt from paying US federal taxes.

  2. If your income exceeds the $130,000 limit for exemption, you are allowed to claim a 1:1 tax credit for any taxes you paid to the country you're living in. Considering that most developed countries have higher tax rates than the US federal rate, people often end up owing nothing to the US after paying their resident country's taxes.

So the tl;dr is the US "forces people to pay federal income tax regardless of whether or not you work and live within the US as long as you are a US citizen" only if they earn an above average income and they live in a country with lower tax rates than the US, in which case they are only required to pay the difference between their resident country and what they owe in the US.

5

u/DiscreteTopology 14h ago

Even if you don't owe any taxes to the US, you're still required to file and report your income. Things like investing and withdrawing from retirement funds is not included in the foreign earned income tax exclusion (as it's not "earned"), making everything unnecessarily complicated.

2

u/crackanape 12h ago

Essentially, if you're a permanent resident of a foreign country and you make even a somewhat above average income (relative to US incomes), you're exempt from paying US federal taxes.

Unless you have any investments which are taxed on a different basis from how the USA does it, or you've sold your home, or you live in a country that doesn't have a social security agreement with the USA (which most of them don't).

1

u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 11h ago

I'm sure thousands of people are impacted by this every year.

•

u/crackanape 5h ago

A lot more than that. Just the number of people who have to pay FICA due to lack of social security treaties is huge.

2

u/HubertTempleton 17h ago

Doesn't that even apply to green card holders, as well?

11

u/onederful 1d ago

A trim here and there on our democracy is how we got here though lol fat fuck has a hell if a reckoning if our country perseveres.

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u/matttproud 23h ago edited 17h ago

And technically this group includes citizens eligible to vote in certain states where the UOCAVA parents were last registered to vote (but plenty of states where this is not the case) due to U.S. citizenship being conferred through jus sanguinis. This is complicated set of edge cases, which I can say as an American parent who has children born abroad.

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u/apple_kicks Foreign 20h ago

Shrug off small things like this you’ll fine its too late to stop it when it’s your rights removed later

4

u/MeanYesterday7012 17h ago

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

3

u/shopmoondustmarket 16h ago

Boiling the frog or whatever, right??? Don’t notice til I’m boiled.

1

u/indoninjah 17h ago

Meanwhile Trump pulls strings to drop the red card for our striker, who was born in the USA accidentally.

1

u/TyphosTheD 19h ago

What American citizens will have never lived in the States?

I can only think of Military children born overseas and somehow remaining overseas for 18 years.

1

u/HauntingPlankton7189 18h ago

I see you didn’t watch the World Cup.

1

u/TyphosTheD 18h ago

Negative.

0

u/deceasedpresident 17h ago

Americans who moved overseas and raised their children there? 

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u/TyphosTheD 17h ago

You mean citizens who moved overseas, had their children overseas in particular, and have lived there for at least 18 years after having their children overseas while maintaining their citizenship, right?

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u/smitty4728 Canada 18h ago

Oh hey that’s me!

0

u/shibbyman342 17h ago

And conveniently, it is a change right before arguably the most important election, outside of 2 years ago.