Oct. 29 (UPI) — A federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed a lawsuit filed by six of the commonwealth’s Republican congressmen seeking to subject overseas mail-in ballots to additional scrutiny.
Had it been approved, the late request by the group of GOP election deniers could have potentially lead to thousands of overseas ballots being thrown out.
U.S. District of Middle Pennsylvania Judge Christopher Conner dismissed the lawsuit that challenged the way in which about 25,000 overseas mail-in ballots would be handled after a hearing in the matter was held on Oct. 18.
Conner ruled the lawsuit lacked legal standing, had no viable cause of action, did not include required parties and was filed too late.
“The absence of a cause of action deprives this court of jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ case,” Connor wrote in his ruling that was announced Tuesday.
The six Pennsylvania GOP congressman who filed the federal lawsuit are Reps. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, Guy Reschenthaler, Lloyd Smucker, Scott Perry, Dan Meuser and Mike Kelly.
All six refused to certify the 2020 election results that were challenged by former President Donald Trump but won by President Joe Biden.
They wanted the overseas mail-in ballots to be separated from other mail-in ballots and subjected to additional vetting to prevent fraud.
The congressmen argued the state was enabling vote fraud by not verifying the mail-in ballots are genuine.
They also said the current process makes it easier for foreign interference in the general election.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Democrat, argued federal law exempts overseas mail-in ballots from verification and said an injunction disrupt the commonwealth’s “carefully laid election administration procedures to the detriment of untold thousands of voters.”
A third party named PA Fair Elections filed a similar lawsuit that is undergoing appeal with a week remaining before the Nov. 5 general election.
Overseas voters include members of the U.S. military who are stationed overseas and U.S. citizens who live in other nations.
The number of U.S. citizens living abroad out numbers the amount of military personnel deployed overseas, and the Democratic Party has targeted overseas citizens as part of its get-out-the-vote efforts.
Pennsylvania is a swing state in which Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump are in a virtual deadlock.
