RNC discontinues ‘Bank Your Vote’ site, preps early voting program revamp

The Republican National Committee (RNC) plans to overhaul the early voting “Bank Your Vote” initiative launched by former Chair Ronna McDaniel in favor of a new program, which the RNC says will include an effort to bank Republican votes. After The Federalist inquired about the departure from McDaniels’ program on Friday, the “Bank Your Vote” website (archived here) was taken down.

Danielle Alvarez from the RNC told The Federalist that “the website is down for reconstruction as we refocus our operation on not only banking votes but growing votes.” Banking votes means encouraging voters to take advantage of opportunities to vote early, either via mail or in-person.

The RNC told The Federalist that its new plan would include a vote-banking program in addition to a “Grow The Vote” initiative aimed at reaching nontraditional Republican voters. When The Federalist asked how this new program would conduct vote banking and what metrics it would use to target voters, Alvarez said the RNC has “paid staffers and volunteer-powered field programs in every battleground state and they are expanding daily” but did not provide numbers or specific details, expressing concern about giving away their plan. The RNC offered to follow up with more information but could not provide details by publication time.

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley sent a memo to staff recently that provided a general overview of the RNC’s plans to “Grow The Vote” by reaching demographics that may not traditionally vote Republican. The memo also describes an effort to “Bank The Vote” by encouraging Republicans to take advantage of mail-in and early voting. A separate letter sent to staff by Whatley during his first week on the job described plans to continue the “Bank Your Vote” initiative and said “Grow The Vote” would be launched in addition to it.

The original “Bank Your Vote” initiative had state-specific websites for voters that included information about things like timelines for requesting a mail-in ballot, and options for voters to sign up for reminders of voting deadlines. The RNC did not confirm whether the rebranded initiative would have state-specific websites for voters to obtain early voting information.

“The RNC is likely trying to step away from the brainstorming and initiative that was created under the Ronna McDaniel administration,” someone with knowledge of the RNC’s “Bank Your Vote” and “Grow The Vote” initiatives told The Federalist. “They seem to serve the same purpose at the end of the day, it’s just a matter of stepping away from previous leadership.”

“The [RNC] is still very much in an organizational phase, it doesn’t mean that it won’t be successful, but right now it’s still widely believed that they’re still trying to line up a game plan that will ultimately be effective this November,” the source added. “Getting a ‘Bank Your Vote’-like effort off the ground is certainly going to happen. The success of it is what remains to be seen.”

Last week, NBC News cited two unnamed Republicans who claimed that “the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have fewer than five staff members in each of the battleground states.” Alvarez told The Federalist that assertion was false. Meanwhile, Democrats have long capitalized on early and mail-in voting, with data showing they have only increased their early vote lead over Republicans since 2018, according to The Washington Post.

While Republicans have generally been slow to catch up to Democrats on early voting, states like Virginia, led by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, have seen some success. Data from October of 2023 showed the gap had narrowed between early in-person votes cast by Democrats and Republicans in Virginia, according to WVEC.

“The percentage of Republican votes have increased by approximately 8% since 2021,” according to the report.