Virginia Republicans are gearing up their new early-voting marketing campaign and process in hopes of gaining an edge over Democrats in the upcoming Nov. 7 Assembly elections.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other party leaders are backing an effort aimed at increasing early in-person and absentee voting among Republicans and independent voters as part of a push to flip the state Senate that Democrats now control by a two-seat margin.
Republicans are also determined to maintain the GOP’s three-seat advantage in the House.
“Beyond the digital stuff we’ve been doing online, you’re going to see television commercials about ‘Secure Your Vote Virginia’ on broadcast media, newspapers, and in a lot of places where we simply have to convince Republicans and independents to show up either early and vote in person or mail-in absentee ballot,” Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Rich Anderson told The Washington Times.
According to Mr. Anderson, some members of the Virginia Republican Party are suspicious of voting at any time other than in person and on Election Day. The new program is designed to change that attitude.
Other than going to the website Republicans have set up, Virginia voters can sign up to cast their ballots early by adding their names to the permanent absentee ballot list. Voters on the permanent list don’t have to request an absentee ballot every election cycle.
For every primary election and every general election, the state and local office of elections registrar will automatically mail those on the permanent list a ballot. Voters on the list are then able to track their ballots in a manner similar to tracking an Amazon package.
“I signed up for it. And I got an email with a text message on my cellphone the next day, saying you’re now in the program. We postmarked the ballot to your home address today,” Mr. Anderson said.
“The next day I got a text message. The ballot is out for delivery to your mailbox later the same day. I got another text. ‘The ballot is in your mailbox.’ I trudged up my driveway, And guess what? The ballot was in there,” he said.
“I took it down. I filled it out, sealed the envelope, put it back in the mailbox. Next day, I got another text. It’s en route to the office of elections. Next day I got one, it says it’s in the office and your ballot has been cast.”
Mr. Youngkin, a relative newcomer to politics, says he supports early voting. His Spirit of Virginia political action committee has raised over $6 million to help the GOP expand the message around the Commonwealth’s 125 counties.
“Republicans got to stop sitting on the sidelines and allowing the Democrats to do a better job of voting early,” Mr. Youngkin said earlier in the month when he announced the program on Fox News. “I’m tired of us going into elections down thousands of votes.”
Mr. Anderson said GOP committees around the state are amplifying this message already within their communities.
“They’re doing this on their own,” Mr. Anderson said. “Some of these commercials are going to be done by very prominent national Republicans. So it’s not just going to be a mom-and-pop affair, it’s going to be the trademark Youngkin effort.”
Early in-person voting for Virginia’s Nov. 7 elections starts Sept. 22.
