Republicans Are Fully on Board with Trump’s Attack on Mail Voting. But the Beltway Press Won’t Say it

Is President Donald Trump fighting a lonely crusade to restrict mail voting, taking on a Republican Party that’s staunchly protecting it?

Um, obviously not. But you might think so from how much of the Beltway press covers the issue.

Politico reported Wednesday on what it called the “sharp contrast” between Trump’s bid to abolish mail voting, and a push by state and local GOP organizations to get their voters to cast mail ballots.

The effort is being pursued “in defiance of Trump,” Politico said. 

It’s true that Republican leaders in key states are making plans to encourage GOP voters to take advantage of mail voting next fall, even as Trump continues to assail the practice.

Still, first off, this is neither new nor surprising. We’ve seen countless stories going back to last year, including by Politico itself, pointing out the same dynamic. And why wouldn’t a political party play by the rules as they exist, taking advantage of every legal method for getting its backers to vote? We wouldn’t expect Republicans to unilaterally disarm.

Even Trump himself last year grudgingly recorded a video for the Republican National Committee (RNC) telling GOP voters to cast an early or mail ballot, and has himself voted by mail.

So as “defiance” of Trump goes, this is pretty weak.

But here’s the much bigger reason why this whole way of framing the story leaves readers less — not more — informed: Republicans are 100% on board with Trump’s campaign to restrict mail voting. In fact, in many ways, they’re driving it.

To be sure, near the end of its story, Politico cites three examples of GOP-led states — Ohio, Utah, and Kansas — “attempting to follow Trump” in restricting mail voting. Those states have worked to scrap the grace periods that many states allow for ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day but arrive after.

But the GOP’s war on grace periods isn’t limited to a few outlier states. It’s being pushed by the national party. 

As Democracy Docket readers know, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to hear an RNC lawsuit that aims to win a ruling eliminating grace periods nationwide — which would disenfranchise large numbers of voters. 

And as we’ve also reported, the key House Republican on election issues, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.), has said he plans to introduce legislation with the same goal. 

But it isn’t only grace periods that are in Republicans’ crosshairs. From statehouses to the courts, they’ve launched an all-out assault on mail voting itself. 

According to Democracy Docket research using the Voting Rights Lab’s tracker, 180 bills to restrict mail voting have been introduced in states just this year. Most of these make it easier for election administrators to reject mail ballots, while others make it harder for voters to request a mail ballot or a mail ballot application.

Last cycle, the RNC doggedly pursued a case aimed at forcing Pennsylvania to throw out mail ballots with missing or incorrect dates. It sued over New York’s law allowing no-excuse mail voting. And it sought to help defend restrictive mail-voting laws in Ohio, Georgia, Wisconsin and North Carolina. 

That’s the real story on the GOP’s approach to mail voting. Sure, Republicans will encourage their own voters to take advantage of it, while it’s legal. Meanwhile, they’re pulling out all the stops to disenfranchise mail voters. And there’s no contradiction between those two stances, because they believe that most of those likely to be disenfranchised are still going to be Democrats.

At Democracy Docket, we’re committed to explaining that reality in a clear voice. It’s a shame that much of the political press still can’t bring itself to.