Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump has again called for banning all absentee ballots, but his proposal is getting a lukewarm reception in the House because many Republicans, especially in Florida, depend heavily on absentee votes to get elected. Still, Republicans have the feeling that unless they rig the game fast, they are going to get swamped in November. So they have to do something or drown in the tide.
The SAVE Act, which requires voter ID and other things Republicans want, passed the House last week but will be filibustered to death in the Senate. Consequently, House Republicans are looking for other ways to win (other than doing something absurd, like supporting policies the voters want). One idea floating around is to require voter ID for registering, but not for actually voting. Another one popular with Republicans is to ban what they call "ballot harvesting." Currently, people in hospitals and nursing homes request and fill out absentee ballots, then a staff member collects and brings them all to the board of elections. Also, many Native Americans live on reservations dozens of miles from their polling place, so they request absentee ballots and one tribal member brings all the ballots to the polling place. These are examples of ballot harvesting the Republicans want to ban.
Another idea the Republicans are chewing over is banning states from automatically mailing ballots to every registered voter. There are eight states that do this: Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Vermont. Oddly enough, six are deep blue states, one is a swing state, and only one is a red state, so a ban would mostly hit blue states and depress turnout there. However, it is not entirely clear which party would benefit from a ban. For example, there are three competitive House districts in Washington, one in Oregon, and maybe even a couple in California post-Prop. 50. When Republicans get ballots at home, many of them fill them in and return them because it is easy. If they had to request one, some of them wouldn't bother because the state as a whole is very blue and they may think it is not worth the trouble, not realizing that their district is actually competitive.
Some Republicans, like Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), think all this posturing is pointless because anything House Republicans dream up will be filibustered in the Senate. Lawler thinks that Republicans should put all their effort into getting Republicans to the polls during early voting or on Election Day. (V)