(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) With the SAVE America Act facing an uphill climb even before the unexpected death of Sen. Lindsey Graham on Saturday, President Donald Trump and his allies are trying to find a legislative workaround that would allow them to close election-integrity loopholes.
Among the more egregious examples of Democrat-run states engaged in bad-faith voting practices, some are being called out for counting the ballots of so-called never-residents — often overseas voters who have a tenuous claim to residency in the last state where their parents resided.
A recent dispute between two judges in North Carolina who were vying for a seat on the state Supreme Court brought the issue to light after the losing Republican candidate argued that some 60,000 ballots should be invalid due to irregularities.
That included never-residents who had cast ballots without even supplying a government-issued form of identification.
The court ruling determined that such voters must verify their identity in future elections but stopped short of disallowing them to vote in federal elections in the state.
Now, similar practices are coming to light in other states where swing votes could make a meaningful difference.
The Republican National Committee and New Jersey Republicans are reportedly suing the Garden State over its 2022 law allowing never-residents to vote. The lawsuit comes as recent races, including last year’s gubernatorial race, show Republicans closing the gap in the deep-blue state, long considered a hotbed of fraud.
🚨 JUST IN: The RNC has just SUED New Jersey's Democrat Secretary of State after it was exposed they let people vote who have *NEVER LIVED IN THE STATE*
WTF?! How many states allow this? 🤯
"[NJ allows] non-residents who have never lived in New Jersey to register and vote in… pic.twitter.com/3olyTIXaXd
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 10, 2026
Meanwhile, in a recent memo that went to multiple secretaries of state — including Michigan’s Jocelyn Benson and Pennsylvania’s Al Schmidt, the Justice Department demanded that the blue-state officials comply with federal laws on voter eligibility.
“[A]ny election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s [voter rolls] or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability,” said the letter from Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
Trump administration calls out Pennsylvania for allowing non-citizens to vote and clearly warns them that they will be sitting in a jail cell if they allow non-citizens to continue voting.
Never forget that Trump was up over 650,000 votes, with 75% of the vote counted in PA… pic.twitter.com/RsRWuoePKL
— The SCIF (@TheSCIF) July 10, 2026
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
