Special Poll
Trump Campaign Launches “Swamp the Vote” to Promote Mail-In and Early Voting
Former President Trump’s campaign has embarked on a new initiative to overcome a long-standing challenge: mail-in and early voting.
Working closely with the Republican National Committee, Trump’s outreach team introduced “Swamp the Vote” this week. The initiative aims to alleviate voter concerns about the integrity of nontraditional voting methods, concerns that were initially fueled by Trump himself.
“We must swamp the radical Democrats with massive turnout,” Trump declared in a statement about the new effort to counter President Biden in their upcoming rematch this fall. “The way to win is to swamp them. If we swamp them with votes, they can’t cheat.”
The campaign plans to use existing voter outreach methods to provide information on various state voting options, encouraging voters to cast their ballots early whenever possible to avoid inconveniences and unforeseen obstacles on Election Day.
“You need to make a plan, register, and vote any way possible,” Trump emphasized in a video launching the initiative.
This represents a significant shift in stance for Trump, who has previously been vocal about his disdain for these voting processes.
“I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting,” Trump stated during an April 2020 news briefing in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, cautioning that “all sorts of bad things can happen” during the mail-in process.
In 2020, states encouraged alternative voting methods, including mail-in ballots, to ensure safety amid the pandemic. However, Trump urged his supporters to ignore these measures and vote in person that November.
“It shouldn’t be mail-in voting. It should be: You go to a booth, and you proudly display yourself,” Trump said at the time.
As his polling numbers declined in the final days of the campaign, Trump began preemptively questioning the election’s integrity.
“This will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our country,” he declared in a June 23 speech, a precursor to his eventual refusal to accept the election results, which culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Mail-in and early voting have long been criticized by conservatives who argue these methods could facilitate voter fraud, despite a lack of evidence showing widespread improper influence over election outcomes.
A Pew poll released in February found that 57 percent of respondents believe voters should have the option to vote by mail. Additionally, three out of four respondents supported early, in-person voting periods for at least two weeks before Election Day.
However, the survey also highlighted a significant partisan divide on the issue, which has widened since Trump’s election loss. About 84 percent of Democrats surveyed by Pew supported no-excuse mail-in voting, while only 28 percent of Republicans agreed—down from nearly 50 percent in 2020.
Research from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab earlier this year showed a dramatic shift over the past three decades from in-person voting on Election Day to nontraditional methods, such as mail-in voting.
During the 2020 election cycle, amid the coronavirus pandemic, more states promoted alternative voting methods for safety reasons. This resulted in more people casting ballots by mail than in person on Election Day for the first time. The research found that 43 percent of ballots were mailed in, 26 percent were cast in person on alternate dates, and fewer than a third were cast in person on Election Day.
In contrast, during the 1996 presidential election cycle, nearly 90 percent of voters cast their ballots in person on Election Day, with fewer than 8 percent voting by mail. By the 2016 presidential election, just over half of voters cast in-person ballots on Election Day, while nearly 40 percent voted by mail or in person early.