The election is just a week away now. But the voting is already well underway.
That’s why Donald Trump can’t believe this early voting news stunner.
At a Trump rally in Las Vegas on Thursday, volunteers were on hand to collect mail-in ballots from attendees, marking a notable shift in strategy for Nevada Republicans. Once opposed to ballot harvesting, GOP activists are now embracing the new rules established since 2020, encouraging voters to bring their ballots to events and facilitating early voting efforts.
“We don’t like early voting, but it’s how the game is,” said Schayden Gorai, a field representative for Turning Point Action in Las Vegas. He emphasized that the current rules are the “the rules that the Democrats have set.”
As of Friday morning, early voting statistics indicate that Republicans are leading Democrats by nearly 24,000 votes, combining both mail-in and in-person ballots. With Democrats trailing Republicans by 25% in in-person early voting — despite having an edge in mail ballots — longtime political reporter Jon Ralston warned that the party could be in “big, big trouble.”
Former President Donald Trump, along with speakers like Vivek Ramaswamy, Charlie Kirk, and Tulsi Gabbard, urged the crowd to vote early and to bring friends along. Prior to the rally, organizers sent out text blasts informing attendees about the ballot drop-off option and distributed flyers encouraging ballot submission.
The new initiative was launched earlier this month during Trump’s speech in Reno. With increased awareness about the drop-off option, campaign staff reported a positive response. “We had a whole envelope full of ballots dropped off today, which is really exciting to see,” said Halee Dobbins, the GOP communications director for Nevada and Arizona. “The margins are always close, but we don’t want to leave one vote on the table.”
Collecting ballots at rallies is just one element of a broader strategy called “ballot chasing.” Gorai explained that the GOP has hired full-time staffers in targeted congressional districts to help increase voter turnout.
Take a deeper look at Nevada — and what it could mean for the rest of the country.
Ds aren't showing up for @KamalaHarris. If that happens around the country, the missing red wave of 2022 could show up in 2024 as a tsunami.
These are the in-person early voting stats for 2024… https://t.co/S5gf6hYUzb pic.twitter.com/tQfR19c2oE
— Victor Joecks (@VictorJoecks) October 25, 2024
Volunteers have participated in around 20 “Super Chase” events over the past month, engaging in door-to-door outreach to ensure voters have the necessary resources. “That might be taking them to the polls, helping them to get the ballot in the mail, helping them to take that to a drop box, whatever it might look like,” he added.
This increased effort has been bolstered by the GOP’s initiatives aimed at enhancing voter confidence in election integrity. The state party has deployed poll watchers to key locations and established a hotline for voters.
“I think just having a presence, Republican voters knowing that there are volunteer poll watchers at these locations monitoring the process, I think it really helps those folks,” said Nevada GOP executive director Alex Watson.
Nicole Kelly, a political attorney with past experience as the Republican National Lawyers Association’s Nevada Political Director, noted that the visibility of GOP legal involvement has reassured voters that their concerns will be addressed promptly.
In response, Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Carlos Perez criticized the Republicans for leveraging the same legal processes they have previously disparaged. “As we’ve said all along, this election will be close and Nevada Democrats will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure we elect Democrats up and down the ballot,” he stated.
Watson believes that genuine enthusiasm is driving early Republican turnout. “People want to go out and vote for the president,” he said, attributing this motivation to messaging focused on issues like the economy and inflation.
Many Trump supporters interviewed expressed concerns about the economy and immigration, with several opting to vote early to alleviate potential complications on Election Day. One first-time voter, who has supported Trump for years, decided to cast her ballot due to dissatisfaction with the past three years, stating, “We need to make a change.”
A longtime Las Vegas resident who had registered as a Democrat for decades switched parties this year to support Trump. Republican messaging aims to emphasize the importance of every vote in a swing state like Nevada. “You’re at the center and at the heart of this election,” Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told rally attendees. “I truly believe that how this state goes is how the election is going to go.”
The Conservative Column will be sure to update our readers on any major 2024 election news.
