- It is no panacea – it is something not all that available to Republicans
- It inextricably requires pushing vote by mail/absentee voting
- Adopting it will not lead to voting integrity in blue, purple or red states
- Labor intensive money better spent on other influencing methodologies
- No blue ribbons for trading in-person voting for vote-by-mail
- Some fun memes that might help make the point
For Democrats ballot harvesting processes are — 1) the only way they can get many of their total idiots to vote, 2) a useful way to intimidate others, and 3) part of the process of efficiently inventing voters and voting them.
It is our view that for Republicans ballot harvesting (which necessitates pushing early voting by mail) to the extent that resources devoted to it are substituted from early sound messaging that accentuates organic economic and cultural concerns which would serve to inoculate potential voters, would largely be a counterproductive boondoggle. Early truthful and aggressive messaging suppresses stupid voting — the Democrat’s intended results for their ballot harvesting.
Ballot harvesting is just not all that available to the Republican infrastructure or as regards the number of foot soldiers necessary to do the harvesting. For Democrats the harvesters are often paid by others (one way or another) who have direct financial incentives tied to Democrats — unions, NGOs, government employees, college and university apparatus and more.
Republicans have more church attendance, a theoretical potential venue, which ought to be exercised in some ways apart from ballot harvesting, but it is a particularly doubtful venue for ballot harvesting because of anticipated non-cooperation by clergy who feel constrained or who are hostile to Republicans in spite of the sentiments of those in the pews. Even when available some such venues would open up the probability of competing harvesting activities.
Our view is contra the many recent calls from presumed (or self-presumed) Republican “political realists” who contend that in order to be competitive Republicans must do as Democrats do and adopt ballot harvesting where legal or ignored. We believe it is unscrupulous as a matter of good-government because it requires a general push or zeitgeist for the approval of early voting by mail which is fraught with opportunities for fraud and other negative good-government aspects.
We also think the “realism” of Republican advocates of ballot harvesting is naive, or inexperienced in what it would entail and myopic about who would respond. We also believe it an attack on the conservative activist base who have fought for voter integrity laws and which will be irritated at best by the resources inextricably wasted hectoring them to vote early and if not voting in front of the “harvesters’ to have someone pick up their ballot right away so it can be “banked”. The process does not trust Republicans to mail it themselves.
We believe that more voters can be “banked” either on Election Day (or earlier as they choose) if the expensive allocations for manpower necessary to ballot harvest were devoted to earlier messaging serving to increase Republican leaning voting numbers and help reduce or attenuate the voting rate and enthusiasm of otherwise Democrat leaning voters.
Of course these “realists” admit that for the ballot harvesting process to be successful requires conservatives to all of a sudden drop rhetoric opposing early vote-by-mail and get with the ballot harvesting ickiness. So no more of this from the RNC . Our comments continue below.
Some ballot harvesting advocates scold that such a program is the only way to win because Democrats win doing it and when Republicans don’t do it many Republican ballots are being left on the table, impliedly even being picked up by Democrats.
Other “realists” go on to argue/ placate the principled ‘Neanderthals’ (like us) that oppose ballot harvesting projects and the inherent explicit push for early voting by mail by telling us not only is it the only way to win (we guess because everything else is done thoroughly and effectively) but it is actually the path to eliminating the detested ballot harvesting (said with little if any sincerity). You see, only by winning (which requires ballot harvesting) can Republicans win the legislatures in the states that allow it in order to end the practice. The supposedly bipartisan call for ending it will come about because Democrats will see that ~~ oh Republicans can play the game better than us, so to survive we better join hands with election integrity fetishist Republicans opposed to it and outlaw it. They actually argue the essence of that in an attempt at clever irony or something.
For such an unlikely scenario they never explain why Republicans would give up a tool they are beating Democrats with, or Democrats would give up the only technique they have to turn out or invent much of their vote. We think that political “reality” belies the scencerity of the argument.
Ballot harvesting requires early voting which becomes a bi-partisan anti-good-government zeitgeist that is aggravated when both parties promote it. Republican advocates of ballot harvesters are wanting to join the bandwagon, increase the reliance on early vote-by-mail.
We ask: How many Republican votes did the Republican early voting advocates loose to early suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop revelations and other matters which only started to gain legs in the final week(s) of the 2020 election? Those votes may have been available from marginal Dems and marginal Republicans voting Dem but were already “banked” (insert not mere snark but derision as to use of the term). See here and here.
It is also our view that Republicans 1) are not idiots, they know how to vote 2) those who might be inclined or induced to vote Republican are no longer total idiots and are compelled to vote by appropriate messaging, 3) Republicans won’t be intimidated – being more principled, independent, offended by and immune to the bum’s rush inherent in ballot harvesting, 4) will not countenance literally littering the community with absentee requests and even actual ballots and then the necessary hordes paid to traipse through communities hectoring and collecting them 5) instinctively and rightly do not trust vote by mail because it is so fraud available indeed outlawed by democratic countries across the world, 6) realize that the hectoring does not stop from the paid apparat engaged in this incessant activity, due to poor updating and overlap with other teams and organizations 7) understand that early voting is anti-good government as voting takes place before final debates, and revelations come forth 8) possessed of real and potential privacy issues and corrupt influences and 9) seriously — signature “verification” because signatures are uniform, verification is actually done, verification is reliable and incorruptible, and produces timely election results en mass — matters easily ridiculed but which ballot harvester proponents are forced to defend.
Who and where will it be done, where are the Republican enclaves not voting that are accessible.
All the “do as Democrats do” champions need to answer this question: who are these people YOU are going to harvest ballots from and then who else is going to do it. Will they get their hands dirty because for many it is unseemly at best to hector someone into giving you their ballot?. They might respond: WHAT a simple phone call to say “we see you have not voted yet and we would like to come over and pick up your ballot, and take that burden off of you. If you cooperate you won’t get these calls anymore.” That is the essence of the message and there is a lot, mostly negative, wrapped up in that for inclined Republican voters.
Phoning for years now has been a diminishing return operation (nevertheless vendor driven) requiring more and more phoning to get fewer connects. People do not answer the phone from unknown numbers (thanks telemarketers) and one reason is because they know that in the political season the “no more calls” script is a lie. As long as there is one hold out voting traditionally in that household the calls will be incessant and the lack of coordination is such that political calls just increase up to election day. So it becomes a paid operation door to door like the Democrats and that leads to “shortcuts” and pumping up the numbers and both mean fraud. That’s no game for a republic or Republicans to be championing. And yet Republicans still win in states that still allow vote by mail early, just not harvesting. One thing Republicans can do better is inoculate with good messaging, indeed attack ads telling the truth about Democrats in the spring and summer.
In our judgement hectoring people to vote early is key to nothing, it is inefficiently trading timely votes for early votes to earn some paid apparatchiks some gold stars. It is based on the theory of marginally increasing total votes which we fear would be at the expense of instead using the resources to create a larger juggernaut of enthusiasm to vote to save the country from Democrats. Performance by Republican elected officials while in office and strong electoral messaging, targeted as necessary, defended not mealy-mouthed, — done early — moves more votes the Republican way than wasteful so called “banking” of votes – a concept the defense of which is ridiculous and a lie in practice.
If you have one 30 second or a 1 minute spot they all cost money whatever the message. Hectoring to vote early to submit to harvesting walks on informative messaging and for many Republicans and independents smacks of the bum’s rush. Calls get through now at a rate of 1% and the hangups for that sort of call are the majority or to tell the caller that they have or will vote. But it does not stop future calls.
Door knocks are answered maybe 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 in prime time ( surrounding the supper hour) in suburbia and less than that other hours of the day. Then there are access controlled buildings to probably not get into. So you mail all kinds of things and, horrendously, even absentee request forms that with fraud minded people might be answered and voted by someone else in the household or even the neighborhood and not necessarily by the Republican lest anyone have any doubt. Turn people against Democrats and you just may have THEM vote against the Democrat in the privacy of their home, even if it is collected by a Democrat.
A lot of the problems Republican face in electioneering were seeded by them as well with their support of the expansion of early vote by mail — an inherently insecure fraud prone anti good-government system. In some states there has been a modest reduction in voting “season” but voting by mail even if reduced to twenty days is an inherent playground for unscrupulous people a.k.a. Democrats. Republicans who vote early by mail are anxious but know how to vote.
The hectoring to vote early by mail of people who know how to vote and will vote one way or another manages only to contribute to the horendous opportunity for fraud, lost votes and delayed counting which somehow always seems to favor Democrats. The vote by mail hectoring is an irritant but more significantly a wasteful one that walks on messaging that ought to be used to inoculate the voting populace early on in opposition to Democrats and for the good Republicans stand for. To those who see some silly benefit in voting early by mail — the sugarplums of thoughtful analysis in the security of sitting around the kitchen table at home — well how the heck do they think people decided who to vote for around the table but by meaningful messaging?
Now subject that vote to multiple handlings by unsworn strangers and storage perhaps in Democrat enclaves???? And as a result when the Democrats see they do not have quite enough votes you have a system that inhibits accurate recounts because of either the practical impossibility of signature verification or the complete impossibility of it because of the purposeful disassociation of validating envelopes.
Vote by mail is a playground for mass and onesy twosy intimidation, made up votes and then continuous counting that somehow generally does not go well for Republicans. Better to restrict vote by mail as inherently fraud prone and emphasize vote in person (even if over at most a week with in-person satellite voting enabled) where there is contemporanious ID check and observation guaranteeing intimidation free privacy of the vote along with simplified and far more reliable chain of custody of the vote. Like the old days when turn-out was as high or higher than it is today.
If Democrats beat Republicans by 9 points in mail-in voting what percentage do Repubs beat them at the polls? If you are saying Repubs are maxed out at the polls you have not seen all-voter turn out figures. The bottom line is more votes (ballots) that can be safely made and authentically survive any recount. Chain of custody is demonsterably superior or at least possible with in-person voting. Expand in-person voting to satellite centers to accommodate some early voting but not 30 or 40 days for ballot harvesting (that is the minimum Democrats say they need). By the way turn out in the 1960 and 70s was as much or better than today and vote by mail was rare with the overwhelming vote on election DAY.
Voting in person is more secure because ID is checked then and there, there are observers and the vote (if paper ballot) is counted or kept with a chain of custody possible. With vote by mail – you do not know who voted it, in-house onsey-twosey fraudulent votes or harangues are unimpeded, signature verification (if even performedin the jurisdiction ) is weak at best.
Bold truthful messaging will bring more votes
Message-less vote-early harangues whether using door-to-door, phone or mail, and flat messaging in other mail, banner ads, and radio and TV advertising buys are largely wasteful. Use the money that will need to be raised
Appeal to the majority of people who are largely tired of the woke nonsense — unlimited illegal immigration, — energy DEPENDENCE, — men in women’s sports, — crime and no punishment, — costs of food, fuel and home prices — high taxes — no normalcy, culture being destroyed, sexualizing children — abortion on demand for any reason at any time before birth, — corporations with no allegiance to the US, — one-world government, — failing schools . . .
Spend the large amount of money necessary for a ballot harvesting program, destined to be an expensive not very productive gleaning operation, on better truth telling messaging to be productively reaped as it resists Democrats noxious plants.
Related reading:
A recent scholarly anti-naive view of Republican ballot-harvesting prospects is this article appearing in The Federalist by Joseph Arlinghaus and William Doyle, Ph.D., of the Caesar Rodney Election Research Institute. The institute has done a lot of work exposing the Zuckerberg funded Center for Technology and Civic Life as a thoroughly Democrat get-out-their-vote operation using the color of official election offices, essentially co-opting them.
Republicans Should Not Bet On Ballot Harvesting.
The following article express both pro and con sentiment as regards ballot harvesting. Readers can evaluate the commentaries using their own experience with grassroots political activity.
How Ballot-Harvesting Became The New Way To Steal An Election.
We Might Finally Get Some Answers on What Killed the Red Wave.
The Top 3 Illegal Ballot Harvesting Cases That Should Be Prosecuted.
