The Republican National Committee (RNC) is urging Republicans to vote early — despite the fact that many prefer to vote in person on Election Day — as a part of their effort to ensure that GOP turnout is what it needs to be to flip the White House in November.
The RNC initially announced the “Bank Your Vote” campaign in June 2023, which it described as its nationwide campaign “focused on maximizing pre-Election Day voting”:
Building on our absentee return rate, early in-person voting, and ballot harvesting success in 2022, Republicans must now improve on our overall number of pre-Election Day voters to ultimately secure victory in 2024. Bank Your Vote will encourage, educate, and activate Republican voters on when, where, and how to lock in their votes as early as possible, through in-person early voting, absentee voting, and ballot harvesting where legal.
The RNC recently announced that it had entered Phase Two of that campaign, launching 41 Bank Your Vote websites to compete nationwide. According to an emailed press release of the announcement, the websites will offer a plethora of crucial information to “not only inform voters, but also help them request a ballot online or by mail, register to vote, check their registration, find their early voting location, or even find their polling place on Election Day.”
“When Republicans vote early, we win. ‘Bank Your Vote’ will be instrumental in getting Republicans to vote early or by mail to Beat Biden and secure Republican victories up and down the ballot,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.
“Every candidate, campaign, and committee now has the ability to educate, empower and turn out Republican voters early to victory,” she added.
Trump, who has strongly encouraged same day, in-person voting as the gold standard, is also backing the GOP’s efforts, contending that the GOP must “defeat the far-left at their own game, or our country will never recover from this disastrous crooked Biden administration”:
Former President @realDonaldTrump wants YOU to Bank Your Vote! We all must do our part to defeat the Democrats!
— GOP (@GOP) July 26, 2023
Go to https://t.co/6UQDa9dR3G to sign up. pic.twitter.com/n3w24Yz5Kl
A full list of the Bank Your Vote websites, state by state, can be found here. For example, the website for Florida features two buttons for GOP voters — one to sign up for updates and another to request a ballot.
“Through the hard work of Republicans to Protect Your Vote in Florida, you can be sure that voting early is safe and secure!” the website reads.
“Visit the link below to request your ballot through your county’s Supervisor of Elections. Can we count on YOU to Bank Your Vote in the Sunshine State?” it asks.
The RNC’s efforts come as it attempts to decrease the voter advantage Democrats have seen with early voting as of late. A November 2022 Gallup survey found 54 percent of Democrats stating that they would vote early in the midterm elections, compared to 32 percent of Republicans who said the same.