After years of claiming mail-in voting is rife with fraud, some Republicans – including former President Donald Trump – are working to reverse course ahead of next year’s consequential presidential and congressional elections.
Trump, now waging his third White House bid, told attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this month that it’s time to “change our thinking” on early and mail-in voting. And in speeches and fundraising emails, he’s touting his campaign’s plans to encourage “ballot harvesting,” the practice of allowing third parties to collect and turn in other voters’ ballots. His party, he said, has “no choice” but to beat “Democrats at their own game.”
That’s a stark reversal for a politician who last November issued an all-caps declaration on his Truth Social account alleging, in part, “YOU CAN NEVER HAVE FAIR & FREE ELECTIONS WITH MAIL-IN BALLOTS – NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.”
The change in tone and message reflects the view among party strategists that Trump’s relentless and false claims about election fraud in 2020 and the harsh GOP rhetoric about a form of voting used widely in key battleground states, such as Arizona, contributed to the party’s disappointing midterm results. And they fear it could endanger GOP hopes of capturing the White House and other offices next year.
“It’s a Republican-created problem among Republicans,” said Paul Bentz, a GOP pollster in Phoenix.
A majority of GOP voters in Arizona still cast ballots early, he said, but a “sizable portion has shifted their behavior back to voting in person at a polling place on Election Day.”
Trump, he said, has “effectively suppressed a portion of his own base of support.”
Republican officials around the country now are scrambling to figure out how to change voters’ attitudes before…
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