Sure looks like it.
Every political observer knows that Republicans don’t like mail-in voting as opposed to in-place, showing-up-at the-polls on-Election-Day voting. They believe in the original “town square” meme from colonial times, where the enfranchised showed up in public to cast their ballots.
But times have changed. Absentee voting has been in the ascendancy across the country for decades, and in Michigan it got a huge boost with the passage by the voters of Proposal 3 on the 2018 general election ballot in Michigan.
Already, with a boost from the Coronavirus, that resulted in record turnout in the May 5 statewide election, where mainly bond issues and local millages were on the ballot. Absentee voting accounted for a monster 90%+ of the electorate. That was a bit of a freak because of COVID-19, but still … It’s only going to get MORE tilted toward absentee voting in the future, including in the August 4 primary and the Nov. 3 general election in Michigan. Do Republicans want to ensure that Democrats will benefit the most from that?
Apparently.
Republicans clearly have already lost the battle over the size of the electorate, and they ought to be worried that it might get worse. Shouldn’t they concentrate on a different strategy, like how they could actually PROFIT from getting a better result from absentee voters than they do from Election Day in-person voters? After all, in the old days they used to enjoy an absentee voter advantage, and they still do in many precincts.
Let’s listen to some “friendly advice” from someone who is no friend of Republicans, and who is an elected Democrat himself, Ingham Co. Commissioner Mark Grebner of Practical Political Consulting in Lansing:
Is all this a good thing for the Michigan GOP?
It doesn’t look like it. They should think about what they’re doing going forward.
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The main reason why Republicans tend to be against absentee voting is because when said method has been associated with voter fraud, the results have overwhelmingly favored the Democrats. I would say four out of every five times) Is not an exaggeration.
Democrats know this, too, which is why they typically label anyone who resists mail-in voting a racist/ class elitist who discriminates against minorities and/or the economically disadvantaged.
Bill since the GOP has been taken
Over by Monster Man who kindles
The fires of Hatred and Disease have
They done anything Right? You have
Made an excellent point about there
Nonsense on absentee voting .
I can’t disagree. I encourage voting, that’s the core of our political system.
The problem exists in the integrity of the counting system. Necessarily cumbersome as it relies on mostly volunteers to hand count and verify each ballot. Ripe for fraud and human error. I am big fan of Early Voting as used in Texas.
Ask any politician. They support large voter turn out as long as it is their supporters that turn out!
The GOP has good reason to oppose absentee balloting but only when election officials and Democrat operatives insist on mailing live ballots to everyone whether they request them or not and sometimes whether recipients are registered voters. This is an open invitation for mischief, fraud and mishandling/loss of ballots. Opposing true state absentee systems that have been in use successfully for eons and all almost universally in use is dumb.
Yes, as alluded to by one of your responders, Mail-in voting and absentee voting are two entirely different things. Absentee voting has some controls to it, mail-in voting (at least the type being threatened to be used in California) does not. Republicans are opposed to the latter. Mail-in voting would be fine if controls can be assured about registration, citizenship, identity verification, etc. Also, the fewer absentee voting requests does not necessarily mean that people will not vote. You just might be surprised by the number of Republicans who will show up in person at the polls to vote. – Just my opinion.
Mark Grebner is correct Republicans need to adapt to vote by mail since absentee ballot no reason is now a part of the Michigan Constitution because of Proposal 3 in 2018. Early in my career it was Republicans who pioneered using absentee ballots as a tool to win closer elections. No better example was Californian Pete Wilson who won election as Mayor of San Diego in 1971, his defeat of Jerry Brown for the U.S. Senate in 1982, and Dianne Feinstein for governor in 1990 all with the help of a superior absentee ballot program by his campaign. Republicans shouldn’t treat absentee voting with distain. Reminds me of Trump Republicans who hold wearing a face mask with contempt during a pandemic .Because, I am over 70 I have signed up to receive automatically from my township clerk an absentee ballot in future elections
Absentee voting, and especially internet voting, will open the gateways for vote fraud and the further erosion of the USA. Watch and see!
Well, America has come a long way since its inception, regarding the right to vote. For decades voting was restricted to white males who owned property. Some states even employed religious tests to ensure that only Christian men could vote. But as technology has improved and maximizing voting accessibility for citizens is being utilized, why should the majority of citizens who favor mail-in voting drag republican Neanderthals into the future?
The Republican Party, at the Local, State and Federal levels, is in the midst of not only an identity crisis created by the profound lack of leadership and integrity within the Executive & Legislative Branchs in Washington, but that corresponding vacuum faciltates fear of consequence as opposed to actions of conscience and good sense in matters of strategy and public policy.
if mail in voting should become a norm across America, isn’t there a means by which someone could develop a computerized form with checks and balances? Since we have on-line Census Forms which seem to keep up with who has and who has not completed them, it just seems like a computerized algorithm could be developed for checks and balances to implement on-line ballots. Just a thought … I’m obviously not a computer developer in any way, shape, form or fashion, but I am an American Patriot who believes in doing things right with checks and balances throughout … whether in person, by mail, or via on-line computer.