{"id":1957430,"date":"2023-06-26T16:38:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T20:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-gop-embraces-ballot-harvesting-some-republicans-have-misgivings\/"},"modified":"2023-06-26T16:42:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T20:42:17","slug":"in-depth-gop-embraces-ballot-harvesting-some-republicans-have-misgivings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-gop-embraces-ballot-harvesting-some-republicans-have-misgivings\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Embraces Ballot Harvesting, Some Republicans Hesitant"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fin-depth-gop-embraces-ballot-harvesting-some-republicans-have-misgivings%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1957430&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0623\/86a18bd7-7927-4270-a0de-ff9910316ad8\/audio.mp3?length=10520397&#038;duration=877\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Republicans Embrace Ballot Harvesting as Key Election Strategy<\/h2>\n<p>As the 2024 election cycle draws near, it appears that Republicans are recognizing ballot harvesting as an integral part of any successful election strategy.<\/p>\n<p>However, opinions on the decision to give in and use ballot harvesting are mixed.<\/p>\n<p>While campaigns are already well underway, the much anticipated 2024 presidential election cycle won\u2019t officially begin until the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 22, 2024. But while Super Tuesday is only tentatively scheduled to take place on March 5 of next year, debates on the pros and cons of ballot harvesting and mail-in ballots have already begun.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have spent years decrying the practice of mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting, but they are now realizing that, in order to win, they have to play.<\/p>\n<p>Ballot harvesting is a process by which third-parties can collect completed mail-in ballots from voters and deliver them in bulk to a drop box or local elections office.<\/p>\n<p>Although every state allows absentee voting, the rules and guidelines vary greatly between states.<\/p>\n<p>According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 31 states allow voters to authorize someone else to return their ballot on their behalf. Of those, nine limit the number of ballots an authorized person can return, and four limit the amount of time those ballots can remain in the authorized person\u2019s custody before being returned.<\/p>\n<p>Alabama has a law on the books that prohibits anyone except the voter from returning their ballot, and in Mississippi, several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-confirms-americas-first-native-american-cabinet-secretary\/\" title=\"Senate Confirms America\u2019s First Native American Cabinet Secretary\">civil rights organizations<\/a> are suing over a recent state law that would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/mississippi-becomes-ground-zero-in-national-fight-over-ballot-harvesting_5337700.html?rs=0&#038;\">ban ballot harvesting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Data compiled by USA Facts in 2021 show that three states\u2014Florida, Georgia, and Iowa\u2014decreased the number of ballot drop boxes allowed per county and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-gop-embraces-ballot-harvesting-but-some-republicans-have-misgivings\/\" title=\"GOP embraces ballot harvesting, but some Republicans have concerns.\">established regulations requiring drop boxes<\/a> to be constantly monitored by county election officials. Conversely, Illinois, Kentucky, and Virginia passed laws that increased the number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/florida-passes-new-elections-bill-adding-restrictions-to-vote-by-mail-and-ballot-drop-boxes\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Florida Passes Voter Fraud Bill Requiring Signatures At All Dropboxes\">drop box locations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>By the Numbers<\/h3>\n<p>To understand the power of ballot harvesting and mail-in ballots in an election, one must look at the numbers.<\/p>\n<p>A November 2020 study released by Pew Research showed that 54 percent of voters cast their ballots in person during the November 2020 presidential election, compared with 46 percent who voted by mail-in or absentee ballot. Only 27 percent said they voted in person on Election Day, and an equal amount said they voted by way of in-person early voting.<\/p>\n<p>While 37 percent of former President Donald Trump\u2019s voters cast their ballots in person on Election Day, only 17 percent of Biden voters did the same.<\/p>\n<p>Where 30 percent of Trump supporters voted early, only 24 percent of Biden\u2019s voters cast ballots in person before Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>Most noteworthy, while 32 percent of Trump supporters voted by way of mail-in or absentee ballot, more than half of Biden\u2019s voters, 58 percent, cast their ballots through the mail-in method.<\/p>\n<p>Polling data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in April 2021 showed that 69 percent of voters in the 2020 presidential election voted by mail or early voting, making it the \u201chighest rate of nontraditional voting for a presidential election\u201d recorded.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, for comparison, 40 percent of Americans used mail-in ballots during the presidential election.<\/p>\n<h3>Republicans Reconsider<\/h3>\n<p>After years of criticizing ballot harvesting and a push toward mail-in ballots, some Republicans are beginning to reconsider their party\u2019s unbending resistance to both practices.<\/p>\n<p>On Nov. 29, 2022, on Truth Social, Trump wrote in all capital letters, \u201cYOU CAN NEVER HAVE FAIR &#038; FREE ELECTIONS WITH MAIL-IN BALLOTS \u2014 NEVER, NEVER, NEVER. WON\u2019T AND CAN\u2019T HAPPEN!!!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Three months later, in a February fundraising email, Trump asked supporters to chip in for his \u201cballot harvesting fund,\u201d writing, \u201cEither we ballot harvest where we can, or you can say goodbye to America!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On May 6, 2021, Republican Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis signed SB 90 into law, effectively banning ballot harvesting in the state. At a Nov. 3, 2021, press conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, DeSantis said he wanted to make ballot harvesting a third-degree felony.<\/p>\n<p>However, as a contender for the Republican nomination for the 2024 election cycle, DeSantis assured a voter at a campaign stop in Iowa on June 1, \u201cWe\u2019re going to do ballot harvesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m doing it. Yes,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to fight with one hand tied behind my back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During a September 2020 interview with C-SPAN, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel criticized hasty expansions of mail-in voting and ballot harvesting under the guise of public safety during the COVID-19 pandemic without first putting a system in place to ensure the integrity of the process.<\/p>\n<p>She said Trump was right in saying \u201cDemocrats have inserted havoc and chaos\u201d into the election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>In a Fox News interview two years later, McDaniel said Republican voters need to start voting early.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have said this over and over again,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were many in 2020 saying, \u2018Don\u2019t vote by mail, don\u2019t vote early.\u2019 And we have to stop that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In June, McDaniel started the GOP\u2019s new \u201cBank Your Vote\u201d initiative. In a video promoting the project, McDaniel stressed that the GOP is going to join in the ballot harvesting practice only as a means to \u201cprotect the vote,\u201d and because it\u2019s necessary for Republicans to adopt similar strategies since Democrats have already established a successful advantage.<\/p>\n<p>On June 20, Talking Points Memo reported that when Mike Lindell discussed the topic of ballot harvesting with McDaniel, he told her, \u201cThat\u2019s the dumbest plan I\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her response, he said, was that the RNC has to \u201cdo everything we can to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lindell told The Epoch Times that he didn\u2019t want to argue with McDaniel, but he said the RNC has made a huge mistake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you just change your tune and hope states will go for it and make ballot harvesting legal?\u201d Lindell said. \u201cThis is not the right approach. It\u2019s a desperation move.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Republicans Weigh In<\/h3>\n<p>Michael Thompson, chairman of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee and Election Integrity Committee Member of the Republican Party of Florida, said that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-gop-embraces-ballot-harvesting-some-republicans-have-misgivings\/\" title=\"GOP Embraces Ballot Harvesting, Some Republicans Hesitant\">words \u201cballot harvesting\u201d \u201cstrike fear<\/a> into many Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey should just stay in their lane,\u201d Thompson told The Epoch Times. \u201cThe one thing Republicans never seem to learn is that Democrats are constantly doing things to set them up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thompson said he believes Republicans are embracing ballot harvesting and mail-in ballots only \u201cbecause Democrats have been so successful at it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut my concern is that Democrats are going to be in there monitoring Republicans to make sure they\u2019re doing it right and if they aren\u2019t doing it right they\u2019re going to accuse Republicans of trying to rig the elections,\u201d he said. \u201cNo matter what you think of Democrats, they\u2019ve always out-maneuvered Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s too little too late,\u201d Thompson concluded. \u201cIt\u2019s a bad idea to jump into ballot harvesting to try to win an election when your opponent wrote the book on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Corey Gibson said he\u2019s excited by the idea of leveling the ballot harvest playing field. In his position as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/who-cares-trump-quits-screen-actors-guild-after-they-threaten-disciplinary-action\/\" title=\"\u2018Who Cares!\u2019: Trump Quits Screen Actor\u2019s Guild After They Threaten \u2018Disciplinary\u2019 Action\">national executive director<\/a> of development for Rethink! GOP, he will be playing an integral role in creating what he said will be a winning strategy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBallot harvesting is something that Democrats have been doing forever and the Republicans simply haven\u2019t been competing with them,\u201d Gibson told The Epoch Times, explaining that the project began when \u201csome Gen Z folks got together\u201d and began discussing how exhausting it was watching the GOP continue to lose the ballot harvest game.<\/p>\n<p>As founder of the America First PACT, Gibson has already assembled a skilled \u201carmy of social media influencers\u201d he can \u201cloop in to help create the initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re the first national ballot harvesting project,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to unite Gen Z leadership with \u2018established,\u2019 rather than \u2018establishment,\u2019 leaders and champions for voter integrity. Now, like with everything else in life, it\u2019s a matter of fundraising.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While some are concerned about the optics of Republicans\u2019 embracing a practice they were condemning not long ago, Gibson said he has come in contact with many who are relieved that the party is finally competing with Democrats in this way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy and large, everybody hates ballot harvesting,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they also ha<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the 2024 election approaches, Republicans acknowledge ballot harvesting&#8217;s importance in a winning strategy. Yet, views on embracing it vary. Though campaigns are in full swing, the official start of the highly anticipated 2024 presidential election cycle is yet to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":1957431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1957430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1957430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1957431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1957430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1957430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1957430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}