Voters like early voting and voter ID, no matter what politicians say

On the eve of the next presidential election, one of the hottest debates, quite logically, is how the elections are conducted. Who votes and how they vote could have a big impact on a race that will be decided easily. This has led Democrats to oppose voter identification requirements and Republicans to condemn (though change their minds) early and mail-in voting. But voters themselves have grievances with both parties because they support both parties. And early voting.

Party officials with strong views on electoral politics

Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law banning localities from requiring voters to show identification before voting. “This legislation… is a direct response to the controversial ballot measure approved by Huntington Beach voters this year requiring people to show photo ID at the polls.” marked PoliticianTyler Katzenberger.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the nation’s highest office, objected In 2021, it may be “almost impossible” for some people, “especially people living in rural areas,” to provide identification to vote.

Republicans are also concerned about how Americans vote, but they are concerned about early voting and mail-in ballots. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a May rally in New Jersey. told the audience that “voting by mail is largely corrupt.” At an April rally in Wisconsin, Trump insisted that voting should be limited to Election Day only. And just last week he ridiculed Michigan’s early voting procedures, which state: “You have the rest of your life to vote at any time.”

In 2021 Washington PostAmy Gardner, Kate Rabinowitz and Harry Stevens found that Republican legislators in 43 states have made efforts to “limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting.” Earlier this month, CNN’s Casey Gannon and Paula Reed reported that “in battleground states… Republicans are suing to challenge everything from whether mail-in ballot envelopes are properly sealed to whether they are properly postmarked.”

Voters want easy and secure voting

Officials in both parties have strong opinions about how elections should be conducted. But these opinions do not coincide with those of the majority of Americans.

“76% of US adults support the concept of early voting,” according to according to a Gallup poll released last week. “Two other election law policies are supported by even more Americans: requiring a photo ID to vote (84%) and providing proof of citizenship when you first register to vote (83%).”

Democrats and Republicans differ in the strength of their support for these ideas. But what is remarkable is that the majority of supporters both party and independent voters favor early voting (95 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of independents and 57 percent of Republicans), require photo ID at polling places (67 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of independents and 98 percent of Republicans), and require proof of citizenship from those who are registered to vote (66 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of independents and 96 percent of Republicans).

The survey did not specifically ask about voting by mail, but separate survey Earlier this month, it was revealed that 27 percent of Democrats, 22 percent of independents and 13 percent of Republicans planned to vote by “mail-in or absentee ballot.” Forty-six percent of Democrats, 43 percent of independents and 31 percent of Republicans planned to vote early by any means.

In February, Pew Research also found majority support photo ID requirements, early voting and allowing anyone to vote by mail. Ninety-five percent of Republicans favored photo ID, while 69 percent of Democrats agreed. However, in that poll, while 64 percent of GOP voters favored early voting (88 percent of Democrats), only 28 percent supported voting by mail (84 percent of Democrats). This suggests that Republican positions are changing somewhat, if not completely, on the idea of ​​casting ballots in ways that don’t require going to polling places on Election Day.

(Most) Republicans Change Their Position and Voters Leave

To their credit, Republican officials seemed to understand the idea. Whether they realize they’re at odds with their supporters or it’s finally dawned on them that votes in your corner count no matter when they come in, they’ve shifted their focus to getting voters to vote any way they can. But they have an internal problem with their attempt to force early voting.

“Republicans are pouring tens of millions of dollars into getting GOP voters to cast ballots before Election Day.” PoliticianLisa Kashinskaya wrote three weeks ago. “They’re frustrated because Donald Trump keeps getting in the way.”

Trump has softened his previous absolute stance against early voting. At one point he even said that he would vote on his own until Election Day and then completely changed myself. Signs at his rallies encourage supporters to vote early, but he still ridicules the practice.

The shift, as confusing as it was, seemed to be working. A record number of Republicans joined Democrats, independents and third-party voters in voting early.

“Republicans make up 35% of early voting in the 27 states (for which data is available), up from 29% at the same point in 2020,” CNN’s Matt Holt, Ethan Cohen and Molly English. marked This week. “Democrats, who accounted for 45% of early voting at this point in 2020, now account for 39% of election ballots cast.”

As California’s law prohibiting localities from requiring voter ID shows, Democrats have not made a similar change to catch up with the preferences of their own base. Party officials remain overwhelmingly committed to allowing voting without ID requirements, regardless of what voters prefer.

Of course, none of the above applies dignity photo ID requirements, early voting, mail-in ballots or any other election-related procedures. There is still a lot of room for debate whether these ideas are good, bad or personal preference.

But the American people generally want voting to be easy and to include measures they believe provide some degree of fairness. To the extent that party bosses and elected officials disagree with the public on how elections should be conducted, they are in a fight with their own constituents.