WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Republican National Committee (RNC) is leading the fight to shut down a loophole that allows certain people who have never lived in a state to vote in its elections. As the case heads to the Nebraska Supreme Court, the RNC is pushing to protect residency requirements and stop the spread of "never-resident" voting nationwide.
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GOP Challenges
Extreme Absentee Voter Law Spreading Around the Country
Daily
Signal
August 24,
2026
"Republicans are seeking to
squash a voting law metastasizing through the nation that
allows citizens to vote in states they have never inhabited.
The
Nebraska Supreme Court could decide the constitutionality of a state law that
allows U.S. citizens living abroad who have not lived in the state—or
even lived in the United States—to vote in Nebraska elections. Nebraska is one
of three dozen states that allow some form of this law.
The
Republican National Committee has litigated what it calls “Never Resident”
voting laws in seven states, joining local plaintiffs. A state high court
ruling could put the matter on a pathway to the U.S. Supreme Court and
establish a national precedent.
“The RNC is
taking this fight all the way to the Nebraska Supreme Court because Nebraska
elections should be decided by Nebraska voters, period,” Ally Triolo, RNC
election integrity communications director, told the Daily Signal. “This
loophole allows certain people who have never lived in the state to vote,
weakening the safeguards that protect election integrity. We’re fighting to
close it, protect the ballot box, and uphold the law.”
Two
Nebraska voters, Jack Riggins and Pamela Dingman, who filed the complaint, were
joined in the lawsuit by the RNC, arguing their votes are being diluted.
The RNC
appealed a ruling by Lancaster County District Judge Ryan Post, who
upheld the state’s 2005 law.
[...]
The state
law says, “A person who is the age of an elector and a citizen of the United
States residing outside the United States, who has never resided in the United
States, who has not registered to vote in any other state of the United States,
and who has a parent registered to vote within this state shall be eligible to
register to vote and vote in one county in which either one of his or her
parents is a registered voter.”
[...]
The
Nebraska Examiner reported that state numbers show there are 116 overseas
Nebraska voters registered under the law and that six of them voted
in the May 12 state primary.
But
elections can come down to the slimmest margins. In 2024, in Nebraska, an
election for a seat on the Denton Village Board of Trustees ended in a tie and
was decided by a lottery, according to the Public Interest Legal Foundation,
which tracks elections decided by a single vote or tied. According to the
Public Interest Legal Foundation database, 1,376 elections nationally since
1992 initially had a tie vote, and another 531 were decided by a single vote.
[...]
The
lawsuits are not related to longstanding rules that allow military personnel or
diplomats to vote absentee. The RNC says it strongly supports the
Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The RNC has sued over
“never resident” voting laws in battleground states Arizona and Nevada; blue
states such as Colorado, New Jersey, and Virginia; and the red state of
Nebraska.
In June,
the Wake County Superior Court struck down a North Carolina law allowing
people born overseas who never lived in the state to vote in the state’s
elections..."
