Vote By Mail Helped Trump Defeat Kamala

The “vote by mail” option had a huge impact on the recent Presidential election. Trump had railed against mail-in voting because he believed that Democrats abused the practice  to orchestrate his defeat in 2020. Ironically, it was a Democrat activist that helped the Republicans realize they needed to adapt to the mail-in voting option or face another defeat. 

Marc Elias is a leftist Democrat lawyer who has worked in the past in courtroom battles to allow Democrat-run states to count questionable ballots that favor Democrat candidates. Back in early 2024, Elias successfully petitioned the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to allow political action committees (PACs) to coordinate with federal campaigns. 

PACs are allowed to receive donations in excess of what official campaigns are allowed to accept. If an individual was donating to Kamala Harris, they were limited to $3,300 dollars. If the same individual gave to a PAC that supports Harris, they could give millions of dollars. The catch was that PACs were not allowed to coordinate with the official campaign of the candidate they were supporting. 

Elias, thinking he had an advantage for Democrats, convinced the FEC to allow PACs to coordinate with official federal campaigns. 

The chairman of the Trump campaign realized that this rule change would allow Republicans to focus on getting out the early vote with the help of PACs. First, he had to convince a skeptical Trump to support “mail in voting.”

Blair, the Trump campaign chairman, warned Trump that if he continued to demonize mail-in voting, he would be victimized by the unwillingness of new voters to stand in long lines on Election Day. 

Phillip Wegman reported that Trump was moved to change his position on “vote by mail” when he realized that every early mail-in vote was one less voter that they needed to spend funds on trying to convince to vote on Election Day.

Some skeptics were worried that if too many Republicans voted early, the Democrats would know the exact number of votes they needed to steal in order to win the state.

The PACs convinced the Trump team that when the rural voters sent in their ballots by mail, it would reduce the number of voters that the PACs needed to assist in going to the polls.

Since Trump’s rural voters are spread out geographically, it was easier for the PACs to focus on getting a smaller group of voters to the polls on Election Day. 

Fortunately, this change of focus helped the Trump team have a sizable lead before the day of the election. The lines were long on Election Day, yet the Republicans did not have too many people give up on waiting in line. If there had not been the emphasis on early mail-in voting, many new voters for Trump may not have been willing to endure the long lines that they would have faced on Election Day.

This year, the Republicans adapted a new strategy that was critical in helping them win the swing states.