After years of decrying early voting efforts, some Republicans are now advocating and planning for voters to hit the polls before Election Day.
Republicans have long been suspicious of early mail voting, partly because they see the practice as lacking security, reported The Washington Post. They have also been against ballot harvesting — collecting ballots from voters by individuals or entities for delivery to official polling places — because of the potential for fraud.
However, having observed how Democrats organized to promote early voting among their base, often staking out significant leads in places before Election Day, some Republicans now hope to copy that strategy.
One Republican organization, Turning Point Action, is trying to raise millions to create “the LARGEST and MOST IMPACTFUL BALLOT CHASING OPERATION THE MOVEMENT HAS EVER SEEN,” according to a prospectus obtained by the Post.
Some Republican party officials at the state level are already planning to promote early voting. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Tuesday a campaign to persuade Republicans to take advantage of absentee ballots and the ability to vote in person before Election Day.
“We can’t go into Election Day down thousands of votes,” Youngkin said, according to NBC News.
One Virginia state lawmaker took a swipe at Youngkin’s campaign. “If they are serious about this initiative, the GOP should apologize for their previous attacks to invalidate voting systems,” said Del. Cia Price (D-Newport), per the Royal Examiner. “Until then, this is nothing more than political games from people only focused on using any means available to grab power.”
A similar effort is underway in Georgia, where Republicans are encouraging their supporters to vote early, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Dallas Express spoke with Chuck DeVore, chief national initiatives officer for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who previously testified before the Texas Legislature about election integrity.
DeVore prefaced his comments, stating, “The most secure method of voting is in person on Election Day. … [L]ive ballots sent out in great numbers can be exploited by unscrupulous actors.”
However, DeVore said he understands why some Republicans would want to embrace early voting strategies, especially in states where changing election rules is not a realistic proposition.
He noted that setting up ballot drop boxes in front of churches and gun shops in California for the 2020 election contributed to Republicans winning back several House seats they had lost the previous cycle. In such situations, DeVore suggested, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”
When California Republicans set up the ballot drop box, then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued a cease-and-desist letter alleging the boxes violated state laws.
“Any unauthorized vote-by-mail ballot drop box not only violates state law but also does not provide any of the safety and security guarantees required by the California Elections Code and Secretary of State regulations,” the letter read.
DeVore distinguished between legitimate ballot harvesting by campaigns, where the intention is to “bank votes” of the campaign’s supporters, and what he referred to as ballot trafficking, where “someone is paid to get the vote for their person or ideological leaning regardless of the legality of it.”
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, a paid ballot-harvesting fraud scheme was discovered in Tarrant County. The scam was allegedly tied to a former Democrat nominee for Tarrant County Judge, Deborah Peoples.