In the 2020 election, Joe Biden received all 900 military and overseas ballots counted in Fulton County, Georgia. Every single one of those ballots went to Biden, which raised eyebrows and sparked concerns, particularly among Republicans. These votes came from UOCAVA voters, which refers to military personnel and U.S. citizens living abroad.
On election night, it was revealed that some of the ballots counted late at night at the State Farm Center in Fulton County were UOCAVA ballots. Rudy Giuliani and Attorney Jacki Pick later told a Georgia Senate committee that 93% of the military ballots in Georgia had gone to Joe Biden.
This was a significant statistic that caught people’s attention, especially because military voters are often seen as leaning more conservative.
The fact that Biden received all of these votes wasn’t an isolated case. Similar patterns were seen in other battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin. However, it wasn’t just military votes in play. The UOCAVA voters also included U.S. citizens living overseas, and their numbers saw a significant rise in 2020.
While many Americans were returning home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of non-military UOCAVA voters surged to 573,000, compared to only 228,000 in 2016. Meanwhile, military overseas voters dropped to only 37% of the total UOCAVA voters.
This sudden spike in non-military overseas voters has led to suspicion. In an election where Biden’s victory in states like Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin was decided by just 44,000 votes combined, any shifts in voting demographics or processes raise concerns.
Democrats are now focusing on UOCAVA votes as part of their strategy for the 2024 election. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is making a significant push to register more UOCAVA voters ahead of the upcoming election.
The DNC’s goal is to win the votes of approximately 9 million Americans living abroad. However, according to the federal government’s Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) website, there are only 4.4 million U.S. citizens living overseas, and only 2.8 million of them are of voting age.
Given these numbers, the DNC’s goal of registering 9 million overseas voters seems far-fetched. Even if we assume that half of the 2.8 million eligible UOCAVA voters would vote Democrat, that would still only be around 1.4 million potential voters.
Despite this, the DNC’s memo claims that over 1.6 million Americans from battleground states like Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin live overseas. This is puzzling, given that the total number of eligible overseas voters is much smaller. The DNC’s memo also highlighted the importance of UOCAVA voters in key swing states and promised to “fight for every vote.”
One of the major concerns surrounding UOCAVA voters is the lack of verification for online registrations. Unlike U.S. citizens living within the country, UOCAVA voters can bypass certain identity verification steps, such as providing the last four digits of their social security number or a state-issued ID.
This loophole allows individuals to register to vote using any address or state of their choosing, without verification that they’ve ever lived there or have any ties to the state.
Recently, the controversial Secretary of State of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, announced that the state would be accepting UOCAVA ballots for three extra days after the election.
This means that ballots from overseas can still be counted up to three days after Election Day, which has raised alarm among Republicans.
Some believe this is a way to manipulate the vote count in crucial swing states like Georgia, where every vote could make a difference.
Raffensperger made this announcement in an interview, stating that 75% of all vote totals would be reported by 8 PM on election night. However, the remaining overseas ballots would trickle in by the Friday after the election, potentially changing the outcome of close races.
Critics see this as a red flag, believing that this extended window for counting overseas ballots could be used to “steal” the election in Georgia.
As Republicans watch these developments unfold, many are urging their party to pay closer attention to the handling of UOCAVA ballots and the potential for misuse.
With so much at stake in the 2024 election, concerns about election integrity remain at the forefront of political discussions.
