WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Republicans on Tuesday launched an effort to get their voters to cast mail-in ballots in an effort to reduce a Democratic advantage that has helped flip the swing state blue in recent elections.
The eight-figure effort is being led by the Republican State Leadership Committee, which raises money to help elect Republicans to state offices; Keystone Renewal, a super PAC aligned with GOP U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick; and the Sentinel Action Fund, another super PAC that spent more than half its money in an unsuccessful effort to defeat Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.
With former President Donald Trump falsely claiming that absentee balloting was rife with fraud, Republicans shied away from mail voting while Democrats embraced it. In 2020, while Mr. Trump lost Pennsylvania by fewer than 81,000 votes, Joe Biden received 1.4 million more mail-in ballots.
And in 2022, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, John Fetterman, defeated celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz by around 260,000 votes after rolling up a 700,000-vote advantage among absentee ballots.
The advantage of voting by mail is that it guarantees that the person actually casts a ballot instead of waiting until Election Day when a myriad of issues could prevent the voter from showing up.
But Mr. Trump’s false claims that mail-in ballots lead to fraud have discouraged Republicans from voting early, and his supporters sought to overturn the election in 2020 based on those bogus allegations.
A recent study by two Stanford University academics found no evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania or other battleground states, concluding that the claims failed “to provide any evidence of fraud, illegality, or even an abnormality” and were “not based on facts.”
Allegheny County Republican Chair Sam DeMarco said he applauded the effort to get more GOP voters to cast absentee ballots.
Shunning mail-in ballots is “akin to running a 100-yard dash against someone and giving them a 50-yard head start,” he said. “Pennsylvania is a critical swing state and it’s important the Republicans play by the rules that are in place if they hope to win in 2024.”
Earlier this month, Mr. DeMarco, who also sits on the Allegheny County Council, sued County Executive Sara Innamorato for unilaterally announcing five drop-off locations for absentee ballots before the April 23 primary. Mr. DeMarco said Ms. Innamorato should not have acted without consulting the county Board of Elections, which both people sit on.
On Monday, a judge sided with Mr. DeMarco and said board approval was needed. The Board of Elections is scheduled to take up the issue at its Wednesday meeting.
Dee Duncan, president of the RSLC’s PAC, said the investment “will create the largest and most comprehensive Republican vote-by-mail effort in Pennsylvania history and will be a difference maker as we work to elect Republicans up and down the ballot in the state.”
"Embracing early and absentee voting is key for a Republican victory in 2024,” said Jessica Anderson, president of the Sentinel Action Fund, whose biggest donor is the sister organization of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group. “As we saw in previous cycles, Republicans must be mobilized earlier in the cycle and equipped with a strategy to connect with and turn out voters before Election Day.”
Keystone Renewal’s biggest donor was investor Kenneth Griffin, who contributed $10 million. Its top eight donors are investment firm executives, according to the research group OpenSecrets.
Pennsylvania is one of 28 states that allow any voter who wants a mail-in ballot to request one without giving a reason, known as no-excuse absentee voting, according to the National Council of State Legislators.
Jonathan D. Salant: jsalant@post-gazette.com, @JDSalant
First Published: March 19, 2024, 9:49 p.m.
Updated: March 20, 2024, 1:59 p.m.
