Voters Like Early Voting and Voter ID, No Matter What Politicians Say
With another close presidential election looming, among the hotly contested issues, logically enough, is how elections are administered. Who gets to vote and how they cast their ballots can have a big impact on a race decided by a whisker. That’s led Democrats to oppose voter identification requirements and Republicans to condemn (though they’ve had second thoughts) early and mail-in voting. But voters themselves have a bone to pick with both parties, since they favor both ID and early voting.
Party Officials With Strong Election Policy Opinions
Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law forbidding localities to require voters to present identification before casting ballots. “The legislation…is a direct response to a controversial ballot measure approved this year by voters in Huntington Beach requiring people to show photo identification at the polls,” noted Politico‘s Tyler Katzenberger.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic contender for the country’s highest elected office, objected in 2021 that it could be “almost impossible” for some people, “especially people who live in rural communities,” to provide identification documents in order to vote.
Republicans also have concerns about the way Americans vote, but they worry about early and mail-in ballots. At a May rally in New Jersey, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump told the audience that “mail-in voting is largely corrupt.” At an April rally in Wisconsin, Trump insisted that voting should be limited to election day only. And just last week he mocked Michigan’s early voting procedures, saying “you have the rest of your life to vote anytime you want.”
In 2021, The Washington Post‘s Amy Gardner, Kate Rabinowitz, and Harry Stevens found that Republican lawmakers in 43 states had made efforts to “limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting.” Earlier this month, CNN’s Casey Gannon and Paula Reid reported that “in battleground states…Republicans are suing to challenge everything from whether mail-in ballot envelopes are properly sealed to whether they are postmarked correctly.”
Voters Want Easy, Secure Voting
Officials in the two parties have strong opinions about how elections should be run. But those opinions don’t jibe with those of most Americans.
“76% of U.S. adults favor the concept of early voting,” according to a Gallup poll published last week. “Two other election law policies are supported by even more Americans – requiring photo identification to vote (84%) and providing proof of citizenship when registering to vot
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