Republican leaders are promoting voting by mail for their supporters despite pursuing lawsuits and legislation that could prevent those votes from being counted. They are challenging absentee ballot deadlines in states like Mississippi and Pennsylvania, as well as defending restrictions on ballot drop boxes in Ohio, Georgia, and Florida. Despite these legal maneuvers, the GOP is launching a campaign called “Bank Your Vote” to encourage Republicans to vote early, either in person or by mail.
The party’s strategy aims to address the Democrats’ advantage in mail-in voting while also appeasing President Trump, who claims without evidence that voting by mail leads to election corruption. Trump has called for restricting voting to a single day, and he plans to make a major announcement on election integrity, along with House Speaker Mike Johnson. The party’s chairman, Michael Whatley, stated that they will challenge voting rules but also work to take advantage of them once they are in place.
Republican attorneys have filed various lawsuits aimed at different election rules across the country, with the goal of both addressing Trump’s claims of fraud and showing their base that they are monitoring voting procedures closely. These legal battles reflect a significant increase in resources dedicated to election litigation, allowing litigators to pursue more cases than in the past. The RNC has partnered with multiple law firms and hired in-state political directors and counsels in battleground states to oversee election activities.
Despite facing criticism for overinflating their litigative footprint, Republicans are engaged in numerous election-related cases in key states. They are challenging mail voting policies in states like Mississippi and New York, as well as voter registration rolls in states like Nevada and Michigan. The party has also focused on issues like voter ID and non-citizen voting, aligning with efforts to make immigration central to the 2024 campaign. These legal battles represent a mix of pandemic-related issues and longstanding concerns about election integrity.
The litigation reflects a broader partisan divide on mail-in voting, with Republican support for the method declining significantly in recent years, despite previous GOP support for absentee voting. The legal battles over mail voting, voter ID, and non-citizen voting are also playing out in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and others. While Republicans may be playing a long game with voter roll lawsuits, hoping for Supreme Court intervention, major changes are unlikely to occur before the November election due to legal constraints on altering voting policies close to an election.
Overall, the Republican Party is pursuing a dual strategy of legal challenges to election rules while promoting early voting among their base through the “Bank Your Vote” campaign. Despite facing criticism and accusations of overinflating their litigative efforts, Republicans are engaged in numerous election-related cases across key states, focusing on issues like mail voting, voter registration rolls, voter ID, and non-citizen voting. The legal battles reflect a broader partisan divide on mail-in voting and election integrity while highlighting the party’s efforts to monitor and influence voting procedures leading up to the 2024 election.
