US service members abroad caught in the middle of overseas ballot battle raging between House Dems, GOP

A group of House Democrats is protesting proposed GOP-led voting restrictions cracking down on overseas ballots, arguing that the measure - the latest in a string of GOP-led efforts to strengthen election security - is overly restrictive and risks disenfranchising thousands of U.S. service members stationed abroad. 

Their protest comes just weeks after six out of eight House Republicans from Pennsylvania's congressional delegation filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month, aiming to get the Keystone State to add additional vetting processes for U.S. residents living overseas. 

Republican plaintiffs argued that current law makes it possible for these residents to register and vote in elections without proper identification. They can then "receive a ballot by email and then vote a ballot without providing identification at any step in the process," the group alleged.

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But that contention has been met with fierce resistance by the half-dozen Democrats in Congress, who argued that the level of vetting sought by Republicans would disenfranchise "tens of thousands" of overseas voters in their states - including, importantly, U.S. service men and women stationed abroad.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, six Democrats, all of whom served in the U.S. military, voiced deep concern over the lawsuit and its potential for discounting the votes of U.S. service members in key battleground states.

The letter, sent by Reps. Pat Ryan of New York, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Chrissy Houlahan and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, and Mike Thompson and Salud Carbajal of California, and shared with Fox News, argued that the GOP-led push is an unfounded attempt to discount the votes of a once-Republican demographic, which has shifted in recent years to favor Democratic candidates.