California Attorney General Co-Leads Opposition to Defense Department Change Making Voting Harder for Some Citizens Living Abroad
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on November 10 that he co-led a multistate coalition opposing a U.S. Department of Defense change to the Federal Post Card Application, the form overseas voters use to register to vote and request an absentee ballot.
In August 2026, the Trump Administration adjusted the form and quietly removed a checkbox stating, "I am a U.S. citizen living outside the country, I have never lived in the United States," leaving citizens born and still living abroad no way to indicate their eligibility, the coalition argued in opposing the revised form, calling the change unlawful and disenfranchising. The U.S. Constitution assigns states the role of determining eligibility for federal and state elections; 37 states and the District of Columbia allow citizens who have never lived in the country to vote, and California lets citizens born abroad who have never lived in the United States vote by absentee ballot if a parent or legal guardian was last a California resident.
Bonta said the Trump Administration has repeatedly attempted to interfere in elections and undermine the fundamental right to vote, and that he and his fellow attorneys general have challenged those efforts at every turn.
(Source: California Attorney General's Office)
Source: California Attorney General's Office
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：加州议会大厦（Sacramento）。Andre m 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The California State Capitol in Sacramento. Photo by Andre m, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
