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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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Former President Donald Trump made one of his biggest reversals on early voting yet, launching his own initiative to encourage Republican voters to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day.
Trump announced Tuesday that he and Trump Force 47, the Republican National Committee's grassroots organizing program focused on battleground states and districts, are launching Swamp The Vote USA "to promote the use of absentee and mail ballots and early in-person voting."
"Republicans must win and we will use every appropriate tool to beat the Democrats because they are destroying our country," Trump said in a press release. "Whether you vote absentee, by mail, early in-person or on election day, we are going to protect the vote. We make sure your ballot is secure and your voice is heard."
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"We must swamp the radical Democrats with massive turnout," the presumptive Republican nominee said. "The way to win is to swamp them, if we swamp them with votes they can't cheat. You need to make a plan, register, and vote any way possible. We have got to get your vote."
Trump has long questioned the legitimacy of early voting, as well as absentee and mail-in ballots. He strongly opposed those voting practices in the 2020 election cycle and the months after, arguing that such ballots were to blame for election fraud and his loss in the last presidential election. And just three months ago, Trump was still railing against mail-in voting, telling supporters at a rally in Michigan that the practice is "totally corrupt."
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Tuesday's announcement is the latest sign of Trump's change in opinion. In April, he abruptly shifted his messaging, writing in a Truth Social post, "ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!"
Largely attributed to Trump's distrust of these voting practices, Democrats have built a large advantage over the GOP when it comes to early and mail-in voting. That trend coincides with the shift in voter behavior during the COVID pandemic when a growing share of the electorate embraced early voting. According to the census, 69 percent of voters cast their ballot either by mail or voted early in the 2020 election.
But investing in early voting efforts could still pay off for Republicans. Last year, voting data in Virginia showed that Governor Glenn Youngkin's push for Republican voters to embrace early voting in the state's odd-year election may have helped GOP gains in the state's most competitive races.
Of the seven House districts and four Senate districts that the Virginia Public Access Project ranked as being most competitive in their partisan lean, Republicans performed better than their statewide average in nine of those 12 districts.
Update 06/04/24, 1:50 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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