Pennsylvania Republicans Lag Democrats in Early Mail Ballot Requests

In the past two election cycles, Republicans have been far less eager to vote by mail than Democrats — and their candidates have suffered because of it. This year, Republicans made Pennsylvania their target for flipping the trend, pledging more than $10 million to persuade G.O.P. voters there to vote by mail in the November election.

Early data from the secretary of state’s office shows that they still have a long way to go.

As of Monday, Democrats in the state had requested about 881,000 mail ballots, and Republicans had requested 373,000, less than half of the Democratic total and only about a quarter of the total mail ballots requested in the state.

While it is still early (the last day to request a mail ballot is Oct. 29), such a large gap shows it is extremely unlikely that Republicans will come close to parity with Democrats in voting by mail in Pennsylvania. It is stark evidence that former President Donald J. Trump’s longstanding criticism of mail-in voting — including misinformation that it is rife with fraud — has had a stubborn and lasting impact.



https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/us/politics/pennsylvania-republicans-mail-voting.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare