A record number of voters are casting their ballots ahead of Election Day, including Republicans who have embraced the measure after Donald Trump told them to vote “as soon as you can.”
According to the Washington Post, it seems that Trump’s new endorsement of early voting has skyrocketed the Republican early voting turnout. States such as Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina have shown robust participation. Georgia, for example, recorded over 1.6 million in-person votes just days into early voting, nearly one-third of the total votes cast four years ago. Nevada has also seen a reversal of 2018 trends, with Republicans outpacing Democrats in early in-person voting.
“If you have a ballot, return it immediately,” Trump told an Atlanta rally crowd on Oct. 15 in Georgia. “If not, go tomorrow as soon as you can go to the polls and vote.”
The Republican early voting turnout this election cycle is considerably higher than in the 2020 elections, when Trump discouraged early and mail-in voting by raising unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud. That stance was blamed for suppressing GOP turnout in key races, notably the Georgia Senate runoffs in January 2021, which cost Republicans control of the Senate. Now, more Republicans have replicated Trump’s message hoping to increase overall turnout.
“We can’t afford to wait,” Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming said. “We encourage people to vote early because you never know what’s going on with the weather.”
Early voting is beneficial for both parties, as busy schedules, bad weather, or illness could discourage people from voting on Election Day.
Even Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, who has echoed concerns of early voting, has also followed Trump’s example calling voters to cast ballots in “every single way that they can.”
“I don’t like election season,” Vance said. “I like Election Day, but as Donald Trump has said, it is what it is. And if the Democrats are going to use every method of voting possible, then the Republicans, we’ve got to do it too.”
However, despite the uptick in Republican early voting, experts remain cautious about drawing firm conclusions from early numbers. While in-person turnout is high, early mail-in voting, which heavily favored Democrats during the pandemic in 2020, shows a continuing partisan divide. In Nevada, for example, Democrats dominate the mail-in ballot returns, while Republicans are leading in in-person voting.
Political analysts warn that early voting numbers can be misleading, as reporting lags and voter behavior patterns differ. Younger voters, who are generally more supportive of Democrats, tend to vote closer to Election Day, which could shift the current trends.
Overall, election officials and advocacy groups remain optimistic that early voting participation will continue to grow, following a trajectory established well before the pandemic.
