Bonjour, We're Here to Save Your Vote
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A Paris-based group of expat Americans is mobilizing against election integrity laws
By Kristine Christlieb, MFEI News & Commentary Editor
February 25, 2026
They’re at it again.
The Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO) has just released a white paper, “State of Play,” on voting rights. The document, released last week from the organization’s headquarters at 4 rue de Chevreuse in Paris’s 6th arrondissement is sounding the alarm about efforts to require Americans to prove they are actually American before voting.
For those unfamiliar with Paris neighborhoods, AARO’s headquarters is located in one of the most prestigious and expensive neighborhoods in the French capital, steps from the Luxembourg Gardens. More specifically, the address is Reid Hall, home to Columbia University’s global center in Paris. So AARO is not merely operating from one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in France. It is operating from an American Ivy League outpost within that neighborhood. Now that the stage is set, imagine the kind of “analysis” likely to come from this group’s “white paper.”
This reporter covered AARO in a September 2024 piece for The Federalist which examined the overseas voting bloc that increasingly “leans Democrat” — according Martha McDevitt-Pugh, chair of Democrats Abroad — and yet whose right to vote without any verification requirements is apparently, in their estimate, the most pressing civil liberties issue of our time.
Michigan should be concerned about these left-leaning Americans living abroad. Some of them aren't so far away. Keep in mind, the country with the largest number of adult U.S. citizens, is Canada, right on Michigan’s border.
Founded in 1973 by a small group of American women living in Paris — not exactly your average Michiganders — AARO describes itself as “non-partisan.” A review of the organization’s board produces the expected flock of well-connected lawyers and academics. These are not people looking for store discounts. Au contraire. They are people with opinions about which arrondissement has the best macarons; and of greater concern to those of us living in the United States, they have opinions about how the U.S. should run its elections in a way that best accommodates their American expat circumstances.
What’s in the White Paper
The “State of Play” white paper covers a lot of ground, summarizing relevant federal and state legislation that AARO believes threatens the voting rights of the approximately 2.8 million Americans who actually live abroad permanently.
At the federal level, AARO’s primary targets are the SAVE Act (H.R. 22), which requires in-person, documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote; the SAVE America Act (H.R. 7296), which passed in the House 218-213 on February 11, also requires ID to accompany absentee ballot requests. The SAVE America Act went from introduction to House passage in twelve days. AARO calls this alarming. They also take aim at the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act.
AARO objects to proof-of-citizenship requirements because they claim it would require overseas voters to transmit copies of sensitive identity documents — passports, birth certificates — through international postal systems or email, creating what the organization calls a “serious security vulnerability.”
The Michigan Connection
Michigan turns up in the white paper in one notable way. The Republican National Committee and the Michigan Republican Party have sued Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a case called Republican National Committee et al. v. Benson. The suit alleges Michigan’s election law violates the state constitution by allowing U.S. citizens born abroad, who have never lived in Michigan, to vote in Michigan elections using a parent’s old address. AARO has been watching this case closely, and for good reason: a ruling against the practice would significantly narrow the pool of overseas voters in the state.
Michigan Fair Elections Institute’s Founder and Chair Patrice Johnson has raised questions about the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Voting Act framework, saying its combination of lax residency requirements and no citizenship verification could “open the door to unlimited foreign voting.”
What AARO Plans to Do About It
Despite its title, the white paper is not merely a status report; it is also a call to action. The group participates in what it calls “Overseas Americans Week” on Capitol Hill — an annual sprint through congressional offices in which AARO’s delegation holds dozens of meetings, pushing its legislative priorities. In 2024, they reportedly held 65 meetings, 57 of them with congressional offices. Here’s how they describe themselves and their efforts:
Our intensive marathon in Washington would mirror this year's Olympics with our international team sprinting between meetings, pushing hard to hurdle the many obstacles in the path to financial access of our members while swimming in a synchronized manner in the troubled waters of a polarized Potomac.
On the SAVE Act specifically, AARO has launched a membership advocacy campaign urging its members to contact their U.S. senators directly. It has filed amicus briefs in multiple federal cases, including the U.S. Supreme Court case Watson v. Republican National Committee, which will be argued in March 2026 and concerns whether Mississippi’s five-day ballot grace period violates federal law. AARO's amicus brief goes head-to-head with MFEI's amicus brief written by Erick Kaardal in support of the RNC's position.
AARO has also submitted formal comments to the Election Assistance Commission opposing a “back-door” petition by America First Legal Foundation that seeks to impose citizenship verification requirements outside the legislative process.
In short: these American expats are organized and well-connected, and they are not going quietly. Consider the irony: a group of expatriate Americans, ensconced in one of the world’s most beautiful cities, fighting vigorously for the right to keep voting without guardrails in a country most of them left.
