For years, Donald Trump has argued against early and absentee voting as how Democrats rig the elections, warning Republicans against using these methods and to show up on election day.
It would appear that Trump has learned his lesson. He now recommends to Republicans that they take advantage of early and absentee voting in the 2024 cycle.
Talking Points…
- Republicans dominated in 2020 early voting
- Trump's change of heart
- Analysis
The pandemic we faced during the 2020 election changed how people voted. Democrats have been looking for a way to make early and absentee voting more accessible, and COVID gave them the excuse they needed. Some states even changed voting procedures without going through their state legislatures, as is generally required, opening the floodgates.
On the flip side, Donald Trump and Republicans warned against the evils of early voting, telling voters to stay away from these methods and continue to plan to head to the polls on election day. But, as we all know, things happen on election day and sometimes keep voters away, especially when you consider the GOP voting base is considerably older than the Democrat base.
When the last vote was cast, roughly 70% of all votes cast during the 2020 election were via early and absentee voting. Democrats made up the majority of voters who chose to cast their ballots in this fashion. According to an NBC News report, only 36% of Democrats planned on voting on election day, compared to 60% of Republicans.
This is exactly why we saw states completely flip overnight, and Joe Biden started to rack up votes when these ballots were finally counted. Charles Stewart, an elections expert who founded MIT's Election Lab, explained:
"I think in the long run there's going to be a [partisan] convergence, but in the short run as along as the Lindell-ites are out there doing their work, there's going to be a constant buzz within Republican circles that 'we're out to constrict the use of voting by mail and we're trying to push everybody to vote on Election Day.'"
Donald Trump has finally realized that early voting can help him in an election, so he is encouraging his supporters to get out early and vote. This should dramatically improve the turnout among older voters and voters who do not have the time to cut out during the workday to get to the polls—or, more likely, people who are too tired at the end of their workday to stand in line for two hours to cast a vote.
Trump posted on Truth Social to encourage Republicans to counter Democrat votes and use these methods in the upcoming election. He posted:
"ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!"
This is a big turnaround for Trump, who used these methods as the base of his claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election. When Trump dominated election day voting and ended up losing several states by the time the early and absentee votes were counted, his base bought into this hook, line, and sinker, and likely led to rising frustrations and distrust of our election systems.
I have never had a problem with early voting as long as it is done correctly. Several states use early and absentee voting very successfully, such as Florida, where the votes are counted during the same day and posted that evening. Compare that to a state like Pennsylvania, which always seems to have problems and takes days to submit the final tally.
It is utterly ridiculous that in this day and age, with the technology we have, that there is even a hint of corruption in any election. We have seen states take active measures, so I don't expect to see nearly the problems that we had during the 2024 election. With Trump now backing this method of voting, we could see significantly more Republican voters who distrusted this method of voting or simply were not aware this was an option. This time around, it could be the difference maker for Trump, not Biden.
