How Republicans learned to embrace early voting.

Republican political figures are making strenuous efforts to convince previously reluctant voters to cast ballots prior to Election Day as early voting begins in some states this month.

Resentment among GOP members towards early and absentee balloting has long been an issue within their party; former President Trump’s shifting stance toward this practice only amplified these problems over time.

Republican officials hope their recent initiatives, like their “Swamp the Vote” operation encouraging early ballot casting will allow them to catch up to Democrats who tend to cast early votes more frequently than Republicans do.

“Nobody should give someone 50 days to register voters before we hope to overcome that in 13 hours – which has become abundantly clear since 2020 in some of our races,” stated Sam DeMarco, the GOP Chair for Allegheny County Pennsylvania.

Early voting will start this month in several states including Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois and Minnesota. Pennsylvania officially kicked off early voting on Sept 16; however a spokeswoman from their State Department told The Hill via email that this date wasn’t fixed due to potential objections regarding third party candidates still outstanding and any legal actions related to those candidates still outstanding.”

Some states will also begin mailing absentee ballots out, including North Carolina where ballots will start being sent out starting this Friday.

Republicans have launched several initiatives this election cycle in an attempt to encourage their voters to make use of all voting options available before Election Day and decrease Democrats’ advantage in early and mail-in voting. One such effort, “Swamp the Vote”, an RNC grassroots organizing program called Trump Force 47’s initiative which provides details of voting options available across state borders is particularly notable.

“Our strategy remains unchanged: Kamala Harris is equally inept as Joe Biden and even more liberal,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated in a statement released this afternoon.

“Kamala must answer for her support of Joe Biden’s failed agenda over the past four years as well as for her own ineffective policing record in California,” noted Alixandre. A vote for Kamala is an endorsement for continuing inflation, open borders, high gas prices and war around the globe.

Early this year, the RNC also unveiled their “Protect the Vote Tour,” to mobilize poll workers, poll watchers and legal specialists into protecting voters at elections.

RNC spokeswoman Anna Kelly issued the following statement on RNC efforts to “Swamp and Protect the Vote: Going Hand-in-Hand.” To ensure Americans can cast a ballot with confidence in any form – mail, early voting in person or Election Day voting – we must work towards Protecting the Vote by providing commonsense election integrity measures across America.

Other GOP groups are joining in early and mail-in voting efforts as well. Turning Point Action, through Chase the Vote, launched an initiative with similar intentions: to identify and register Republican voters. According to its website, Turning Point plans on hiring over 1000 field organizers responsible for tracking key target ballots across battleground states.

Republican State Leadership Committee PAC, Keystone Renewal PAC and Sentinel Action Fund have collectively invested eight figures into efforts in Pennsylvania. An official from RSLC noted their group also made investments targeting specific legislative districts in Michigan.

Some Republicans were already taking steps towards early voting in certain states. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and several groups launched their “Secure Your Vote Virginia” initiative during the 2023 state legislative election cycle; additionally, RNC also offered its Bank Your Vote program at that same time.

Though Republicans narrowly lost control of Virginia state House during that election cycle, an RSLC official claimed they likely would have suffered even greater setbacks without investing in absentee and early voting together with Virginia caucuses, House caucus and Gov. Youngkin’s team in that state.

“Having an effective messenger, resources and unity — that gives them power in making their case to their electorate,” stated Zack Roday of Virginia GOP who served as coordinated campaign director for Youngkin’s 2023 legislative effort.

Notable nonetheless are the efforts by prominent organizations across the country that have banded together and rallied behind this strategy, especially since party leader Donald Trump hasn’t always approved of its use.

On one hand, former President Ronald Reagan has in the past championed early and mail-in voting methods – particularly during a speech he delivered at CPAC 2023 and via Truth Social in April when he wrote, “ABSENTEE, EARLY AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS”.

At the same time, Trump stated in 2020 during a COVID-19 task force press briefing: “I believe there are people cheating by mail-in voting.” Likewise, during a press conference held last month at Mar-a-Lago last month he noted: “Anytime there are mail-in ballots you will encounter problems” and suggested one-day voting instead as the solution to these challenges.

His campaign, however, has maintained that he remains “very consistent” when discussing the matter.

Vince Galko, former Executive Director for Pennsylvania GOP suggested that while Trump and other conservative leaders’ prior comments regarding immigration policy may have caused problems within their party in the past, Republicans believe progress is finally being made on it.

Galko noted that previous GOP messaging may have been misdirected in light of changing laws regarding ballot boxes and ballot requirements.

“Republicans and Trump camp were misinformed in their claims of having been taken advantage of, when in reality they couldn’t keep up with Democratic governors and supreme courts constantly altering rules,” Galko claimed.

Members of the Republican party tend to embrace one-day voting as one possible solution; however, they also argue that flexibility must be shown and embrace different voting techniques as necessary.

“Gop operatives recognize the criticality of mastering voter contact as key components to winning states by 50- or 40,000,” according to Virginia GOP strategist Jimmy Keady.