Judge rejects GOP bid to restrict overseas ballots in Pennsylvania

A U.S. judge in Pennsylvania on Tuesday rejected a Republican-led lawsuit aimed at bolstering the vetting process for overseas voters - an effort that had sparked sharp criticism and concerns that it could disenfranchise thousands of Keystone State voters, including U.S. service members and their families.

The lawsuit was filed late last month by six out of eight House Republicans from Pennsylvania's congressional delegation. The group had argued that the state law made it possible for overseas residents to register and vote in elections without proper identification. 

Voters can "receive a ballot by email and then vote a ballot without providing identification at any step in the process," the Republican plaintiffs alleged.

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U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner dismissed the suit Tuesday as a "nonstarter," noting that the plaintiffs had waited too long to file their lawsuit, which seeks to update a law that has been on the books for 12 years. 

He also cited procedural issues with the case, noting they failed to produce evidence or articulate a "viable course of action."

"An injunction at this late hour would upend the Commonwealth's carefully laid election administration procedures to the detriment of untold thousands of voters, to say nothing of the state and county administrators who would be expected to implement these new procedures on top of their current duties," Conner said.