Conservative Mail-in U-Turn: Now It is Possible And Necessary

In the past, conservative voters and leaders criticized mail-in voting as opaque. Now everything has changed. Thanks to Lara Trump.

The Republican candidate’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has played a leading role in the dramatic change in attitudes toward early and mail-in voting, as well as ballot harvesting in communities. As co-chair of the Republican National Committee, she won the internal party debate and advanced the idea that since Republicans could not stop mass early and mail-in voting, they needed to get involved.

Lara Trump has also managed to convince leaders of mainline Protestant churches that they need to encourage parishioners to register (including for mail-in voting). Moreover, churches are now actively preparing to collect ballots in rural areas of the United States. Most states do not prohibit collecting ballots and delivering them to a polling station or simply dropping them into a ballot drop box.

Another area of ​​Lara Trump’s activity is legal. Currently, 120 lawsuits have been filed in 26 states challenging various election procedures. In some places, the lawsuits can have far-reaching consequences. Long-time Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller, who runs the non-profit America First Legal Foundation, is promoting the theory that a district judge can overturn the election results in a county if significant “glitches or irregularities” are proven.

In Michigan, Republicans are trying to limit voter registration for mail-in voting through the courts, arguing that a non-US citizen may be registered. In Arizona, Republicans are demanding an extraordinary audit of the voter lists, claiming that they are inaccurate. The Republican National Committee’s specific plans for sending voters to election commissions remain effectively classified. In the US, this is a legally gray area.

The status of an observer in most states is either undefined or vague. This could potentially create hundreds, if not thousands, of conflicts on election night. Thus, the Trump campaign is trying its best to avoid the situation of 2020, when mass mail-in voting remained opaque and even where violations were obvious, nothing could be done.

In addition, in 2020, Trump and the entire Republican Party said so long and persistently that mail-in voting was a scam in itself that they clearly did not get enough votes from people who could have voted for Trump. Now they are trying to fix these mistakes. Will this help?