Republican leaders are urging their supporters to vote by mail while simultaneously pushing legislation that would make it more difficult for these votes to count. It seems counterintuitive, as the GOP urges people to vote early via mail with a campaign called “Bank Your Vote.” Yet, the Republican National Committee is cracking down on absentee voting services accepting late ballots. The RNC and Mississippi Republican Party filed a lawsuit in an effort to end the state’s practice of including absentee ballots received up to five business days after the election. In Pennsylvania, Republican groups have targeted counting absentee ballots missing a date with great success. In North Carolina, a new law that takes effect this election completely eliminates the three-day grace period to accept a vast majority of mail-in ballots. Other states such as Ohio, Georgia, and Florida are also pushing legislation to make absentee voting more difficult. It’s extremely paradoxical.
Donald Trump, the party’s presumptive nominee, still insists that mail-in voting led to his defeat in the 2020 election. He believes that mail-in voting is corrupt and leads to invalid, “stolen” elections. Just last week, at a Wisconsin rally, Trump vowed to “secure” the elections with the goal of restricting voting to a single day.
It seems that the “Bank Your Vote” initiative is working against the party itself, and it’s rather confusing that Republicans would work a double strategy like this. The website for “Bank Your Vote” says that the only way to defeat Joe Biden is to have as many votes for Trump before election day. On the home page, a statement reads “In all 56 states and territories, your Republican Party will be working hard to get our voters to vote by mail or early in-person, and ballot harvest where permitted. We can’t do it without you though – so share this site with family and friends to make sure they bank their vote, too!”
Are you confused? I am. It seems that Donald Trump and the Republicans have a major disconnect, as their conflicting statements, policies, and campaigns clash with one another. If you are relying on mail-in voting to secure your win, wouldn’t you want to lessen the burden on absentee voters? This could be a major backfire for Republicans, and I, for one, am excited to see the outcome of this divisive measure.
