In light of the party’s significant losses in the midterm elections, which may in part be attributed to its opposition to mail-in voting, some Pennsylvania GOP members are starting to reevaluate their party’s position on the practice.
Republican politicians and candidates in the Keystone State have been outspokenly opposed to mail-in voting for the past two years, arguing that the practice leaves elections exposed to voter fraud. Numerous Republicans in the state reacted by pursuing lawsuits and sponsoring legislation that tried to completely ban mail-in voting after record voter turnout and Democratic victories in the 2020 election, which were partially attributed to the technique.
Now that Democrats performed better than anticipated in the midterm elections, particularly in Pennsylvania, some Republicans are starting to think about adopting mail-in voting in 2024.
Andy Reilly, a member of the Pennsylvania Republican National Committee, told Politico, “There’s no doubt in my view that Republicans have to have a new mail-in strategy.” “You’re going to lose when one party votes for 30 days and one party votes for one.”
In particular over the last two years, as former President Donald Trump and other party officials claimed the practice caused rampant voting fraud and cost the party the 2020 presidential election, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail. Those allegations represented a turnabout from 2019, when Pennsylvania’s Republican lawmakers assisted in the passage of a law that made mail-in voting excuse-free for the whole state.
Republicans running for office in 2022 promised to end mail-in voting in response to ongoing allegations of voter fraud. Mastriano was defeated by Democrat Josh Shapiro in the election for governor.
Other significant midterm elections in Pennsylvania were lost by the Republicans, including those for the state legislature, the Senate, and the House.
GOP state Rep. Russ Diamond said that conservative and Republican activists “ought to embrace mail-in voting, as it isn’t going away any time soon.” Our objective is to find a way to encourage Republican registered voters who vote infrequently or never to cast mail-in ballots, not to persuade regular voters to do so.
