The Republican/Trump/MAGA swamp has been gearing up for the Big Lie 2022, telling voters that there’s no way this election is being conducted fairly because voter fraud (unless they win, in which case it’s perfect). So much fraud. So much fraud that it’s necessary to have armed “observers” staking out the ballot boxes that Democrats are 100% going to use to steal this election, too.
Except that early and absentee voting and using ballot boxes are really good ways to get your vote in and ensured. So that’s why actual Republican officials are telling their voters that they really need to get those ballots in early, either by mail or in drop boxes. The state GOP parties in Michigan and Arizona both are calling their voter lists to urge them to get their ballots in now, because of course Republican early voting is as American as apple pie. But Democrats voting early is fraud. That’s just the GOP rule.
CNN talked to Gustavo Portela, the communications director for the Michigan GOP, who referred to the calls they’ve been making as their “absentee chase program,” which doesn’t sound at all as ominous as something like “souls to the polls.” The latter is that thing Democrats do to get Black church members to vote early. When Republicans do it, it’s “something the party has done for decades and will continue to do because we believe in reminding Republican voters who pulled absentee ballots they should return them and have their voices heard in the midterm elections.”
Campaign Action
The Arizona GOP did not deign to answer CNN’s request for comment. But the call they’re sending out to Republican voters is already setting the narrative that Democrats are plotting to steal this election. “The longer you wait,” the call warns Republicans, “the more time Democrats have to build up a lead. Do not rest your vote by waiting to return their ballot.” You know what an early Democratic lead means, right? They’re cheating.
Meanwhile, Kelli Ward, who chais the Arizona GOP (the same Kelli Ward who was a fake elector from Arizona and pleaded the Fifth on “every substantive question” from the Jan. 6 committee), has been tweeting that voting by mail is dangerous. “Security of elections far outweighs convenience,” she tweeted. In another tweet, she said “All mail in voting is a recipe for abuse, fraud, and the loss of election integrity.”
She might be the chair of the state party, but she apparently doesn’t have any idea what the state party is doing—or the person at the top of the Arizona GOP ticket, Kari Lake. Lake is running for governor, and lent her voice to a call for another group, in which she exhorts Republicans to vote “By mail or on November 8.”
In Michigan, there are a few different calls going out too, one saying, “You can return your ballot in person at your local clerk’s office or return through the postal service or deliver it to a drop box.” The Republican candidate for governor there, however, is campaigning on banning drop boxes and reforming mail-in voting for the purpose of “election integrity.”
As always, election integrity for Republicans means voter suppression to the rest of us. And if they can’t sufficiently suppress the vote to win, well, we’ve seen what they’re willing to do.
Election Protection is going to be more critical in this election than ever. You can sign up here to ensure that voters are not unfairly turned away and can have their voices heard. There’s a role for everyone — whether it’s helping voters from home, assisting voters safely in person, or tracking online disinformation.
RELATED STORIES:
Armed watchers at Arizona drop boxes are just another escalation in the right's strategy of violence
Republicans are setting the stage for vigilantes to disrupt elections and sow distrust of outcome
Republicans are gearing up a major legal effort to undermine the November elections
The Justice Department is already failing at delivering a 'free and fair' election