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October 28, 2024

The case for voting early

By Monica Showalter

A lot of us, such as longtime American Thinker contributor Eric Utter this morning, agree with the argument that early voting is nonsense, and we should stick to the idea of Election Day, instead of the fraud-filled experience of Election Season. Therefore, we should vote only on Election Day.

No disagreement with the sensibility, but we've got to get this election won, and on its crappy Democrat terms, before we can legislate and enact any sensible changes in the future. That includes early voting.

The GOP is asking us to vote early. Elon Musk is asking us to vote early. President Trump is asking us to vote early.

They all know that we don't like the idea. But among these callers to vote early are political leaders and more significantly, political operatives. They wouldn't say this unless there was a greater likelihood that we would win if we do.

Ballotpedia lists the pros and cons of early voting, and the 'cons' list, which includes misplacement and potential fraud in voting, as well as people being unable to change their votes after the October Surprises, are valid ones.

But the 'pros' list is pretty much just Democrat gaslighting.

It's convenient. It avoids long lines. It's easy to implement.

They cite the Soros-backed Brennan Center for a summary:

"Early voting eases Election Day congestion, leading to shorter lines and improved poll-worker performance. It allows election officials to correct registration errors and fix voting system glitches earlier. And polling has shown that early voting enjoys popular support. ... [S]tarting in 2011, lawmakers in some states have sought to cut back on early voting. In many cases, these reductions have targeted voting days used heavily in African-American communities, such as the last Sunday before the election, when churches organize 'souls to the polls' drives. States that cut back on early voting have faced lawsuits and some rulings that the changes were discriminatory."

It's rubbish.

Actually, based on dribs and drabs of information gathered, banking votes early through early voting helps the GOP corral more voters from its registered base. The operatives see who has voted and who hasn't, and can focus on their efforts those who are just a little hesitant or lazy and encourage them to get to the polls, without wasting time on those who are going to vote anyway. It helps them increase turnout.

I've even seen GOP pleadings to voters to vote early accompanied by promises that they won't bother voters with campaign material up until the day of the election if they vote early. Things like that cost money -- which can be better spent elsewhere -- if voters vote early.

Something else has come up that has a psychological impact -- this map of California's voting is rolling around on Twitter:

 

 

And this:

 

 

What does that say about the enthusiasm gap among Democrats and Republicans?

Democrats, too, were told to vote early. Looks like a lot of them are staying home. If I were a Democrat election operative, I'd be crying in my beer about how hard it would be to get the entire Democrat base to vote given that the voters already are ignoring their call to vote early, which if they did, would make their lives easier.

But never mind about the political operatives. A map like that is bound to discourage Democrat voters themselves, it's demoralizing. The fanatical ones have probably already cast their ballots, but the lukewarm ones, if they see a chart like this, may just say to themselves this lead is insurmountable, so I might as well stay home since it won't make any difference. That's a useful thing for Republicans, to have a map like that to pass around, strikingly because the deepest blue cities historically have all gone light blue with this tally. The only dark blue areas are sparsely populated counties. Sure, the leftists may win, but this map will have an impact beyond the state -- and into the swing states.

The obvious conclusion is that GOP voters should vote early. The fact that most have swallowed their disdain and gone ahead with the Election Season setup is a very good sign for potential victory on the cards, and since everyone likes to be on the side of the winner, it's bound to draw more GOP votes.

Vote early.  It's time for some California red, and an electoral map like 1984. Make that happen with early voting, turning the Democrats' own rules against them.

Image: Twitter screen shot

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