Voters Love Early Voting and Voter ID, No Matter What Politicians Say

As another presidential election approaches, among the hotly debated issues, logically, is how the elections will be run. Who votes and how they cast their ballots can have a huge impact on a narrowly decided race. This led Democrats to oppose requiring voter identification and Republicans to denounce early and mail-in voting (though they had second thoughts). But voters need to choose both parties because they prefer both identities And early voting.

Party Officials with Strong Electoral Policy Views

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law banning local governments from requiring voters to show identification before voting. “The law is a direct response to the controversial ballot measure approved by voters in Huntington Beach this year that required people to show photo identification at the polls.” noted PolicyTyler Katzenberger.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s candidate for the nation’s highest elected office. objected It may be “nearly impossible” for some people to provide identification to vote in 2021, especially those living in rural communities.

Republicans also have concerns about the way Americans vote, but they also worry about early and mail-in voting. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in New Jersey in May he told the audience “voting by mail is massively corrupt.” Trump at his rally in Wisconsin in April insisted He said voting should be limited to election day only. And just last week he was mocked Michigan’s early voting procedures state that “you can vote any time you want for the rest of your life.”

in 2021 Washington PostAmy Gardner, Kate Rabinowitz and Harry Stevens to create He said Republican lawmakers in 43 states are pushing to “limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting.” CNN’s Casey Gannon and Paula Reid earlier this month reported “in battleground states… Republicans are suing to challenge everything from whether mail-in ballots were properly sealed to whether they were postmarked correctly.”

Voters Want to Vote Easy and Safe

Officials in both parties have strong views on how elections should be conducted. But these views do not align with the views of most Americans.

“76% of US adults support the concept of early voting” based on According to a Gallup poll released last week. “Two other election law policies are supported by even more Americans: requiring photo identification to vote (84%) and providing proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time (83%).”

Democrats and Republicans differ in the strength of their support for these ideas. However, what is remarkable is that the majority of partisans both Majorities of party and unaffiliated voters support early voting (95 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of independents and 57 percent of Republicans), requiring photo identification at polling places (67 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of independents and 57 percent of Republicans). 98), and requiring proof of citizenship from those registered to vote (66 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of independents, and 96 percent of Republicans).

The survey did not specifically ask about mail-in voting, but separate survey Earlier this month, it was revealed that 27 percent of Democrats, 22 percent of independents and 13 percent of Republicans plan to vote “by mail or by dropping off an absentee ballot.” 46 percent of Democrats, 43 percent of independents and 31 percent of Republicans planned to vote early at some point.

Pew Research in February also found majority support for photo ID requirements, early voting, and allowing everyone to vote by mail. Ninety-five percent of Republicans favored photo identification, while 69 percent of Democrats agreed. But while 64 percent of GOP voters in that poll supported early voting (88 percent of Democrats), only 28 percent supported voting by mail (84 percent of Democrats). This suggests that Republicans’ attitudes have shifted somewhat, but not completely, on the idea of ​​voting in ways that don’t require going to polling places on Election Day.

(Most) Republicans Are Changing Their Positions and Voters Are Voting

For their part, Republican officials appear to be getting the message. Whether they realized they were at odds with their own supporters or finally realized that votes in your column matter whenever they come in, they’ve shifted gears to make sure voters turn out to the best of their ability. But they face an internal challenge to their attempts to get rid of early voting.

“Republicans are pouring tens of millions of dollars into getting GOP voters to vote before Election Day.” PolicyLisa Kashinsky wrote three weeks ago. “They are disappointed that Donald Trump has moved on.”

Trump has softened his previous absolute stance against early voting. He even said that he would cast his own vote before the midterm election day. turned itself around. Signs at his rallies encourage his supporters to vote early, but he still derides the practice.

Although complicated, this change seems to have worked. A record number of Republicans joined Democrats, independents and third-party voters in voting early.

“Republicans account for 35% of early votes in 27 states (data available), compared with 29% at the same point in 2020,” CNN’s Matt Holt, Ethan Cohen and Molly English report. noted This week. “Democrats, who accounted for 45% of early votes at this point in 2020, now account for 39% of pre-election votes cast.”

Democrats have not made a similar change to capture their base’s preferences, as noted in the California law banning local residents from requiring voter ID. Party officials are overwhelmingly determined to allow voters to vote without ID requirements, regardless of their preference.

Of course, none of the above addresses this issue. merit Photo ID requirements, early voting, mail-in ballots, or other election-related procedures. There’s still a lot of room for debate as to whether any of these are a good idea, a bad idea, or a matter of personal preference.

But the American public generally wants voting to be easy and to have measures that they believe ensure a degree of integrity. To the extent that party bosses and elected officials differ from the public on how elections should be conducted, they pick fights with their own voters.