If there was ever a clear illustration of the GOP’s folly of rejecting the benefits of early voting, February 13, 2024, was it.
The Special Election to replace disgraced and ousted representative George Santos in New York’s 3rd Congressional District was held on a snowy day that made it difficult for many to get out and vote. Too late, Mazi Pilip’s campaign organization realized this and at the last minute laid on buses and other forms of transportation to get the the Republicans to the voting sites.
In the 2020 and 2022 elections, many states expanded their options for early and absentee voting in response to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Donald Trump peremptorily decided that early voting was a menace to his brand of democracy—the one that benefited him. The reason that it was such a scorching topic for the former president is that he had built his claim that the 2020 election had been stolen from him on the premise that early and absentee voting had led to voter fraud. The narrative that he pushed, that ineligible people had voted—some were dead, some illegal immigrants, some cast multiple votes—was essential if he was to keep pushing the Big Lie of the “rigged election.” The fact that not one investigation yielded any proof to corroborate his claims did not deter him from actively campaigning against early voting.
While he repeatedly attacked this voting method, experts agreed that one thing was clear: making it easier to vote early did not lead to voter fraud, nor did it seem to advantage Republicans or Democrats.
Not content with suppressing the early voting, he also drew a false distinction between absentee and mail-in ballots, saying that the former required a strict verification process while the latter did not. In fact, experts say that both types of ballots use the same security measures and do not favor either party. Trump even suggested delaying the 2020 election until people could vote “properly, securely and safely”.
Trump’s declarations against early and absentee voting were not based on evidence, but on his own political agenda. He wanted to undermine the legitimacy of the election results and discourage his opponents from voting. It did not occur to him that by undermining the process he would also be discouraging his own voters.
It’s not that rank-and-file Republicans all agree with Trump’s dictate against early voting. On the contrary: “To me, it’s just common sense,” Andy Reilly, a Republican National Committeeman from Pennsylvania said after the 2022 mid-term election that handed the GOP a severe bruising. “Any party that votes for 50 days is going to beat the party that only votes for 13 hours.”
Outgoing RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, who was handpicked for the post by Trump, disagreed with the former president and said “our voters need to vote early.” She added, “I have said this over and over again, there were many in 2020 saying, ‘Don’t vote by mail, don’t vote early.’ And we have to stop that.”
Yet in the process of promoting his agenda, Trump made adherence to his command a condition for his support with the result that his iron grip on the GOP jeopardizes their candidates’ ability to win.
Democrats have embraced early voting and in the special election of February 13, tens of thousands of people cast their votes early in the parts of Queens that are heavily democratic. At the initial counting of the early votes, Suozzi came out of the gate with a 62.7% versus Pilip’s 37.3%, making it almost impossible for her to catch up in the eastern parts of Nassau County where more people tended to vote in person.
On election day, the severe weather suppressed the in-person vote that was expected to be heavily in favor of Pilip. Unfortunately for her, the early bird caught the worm.
Studies have shown that expanding access to early and mail voting does not appear to benefit one party over the other. Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot by following Trump and vilifying early voting. Indeed, it puts the results at the mercy of the weather. It only makes sense that if you want the vote then it’s in your interest as a candidate to make it as convenient as possible for the voter.
