Trump has repeatedly demonized early voting. Republicans in Georgia are doing it anyway

At former President Donald Trump’s Fox News town hall this week, a woman named Alicia stood up to ask question, noting she was from Fulton, Georgia.

“Where I cast my vote for you today,” she added. “I hope they count it.”

Trump has spent years spreading lies and misinformation about the 2020 presidential election being stolen. And as part of that, he has repeatedly argued against early voting, at one point insisting, “the Democrats used Covid inspired Mail In Ballots to CHEAT.”

“I would rather see one-day voting, paper ballots, voter ID, and proof of citizenship, and we have a nice, honest election,” Trump’s said.

While the Republican National Committee has files numerous lawsuits targeting mail-in ballot deadlines, the GOP and Trump campaign have supported expanding voting when they sees fit. After Hurricane Helene, the Trump campaign laid out proposals in North Carolina to expand access to voting for people hit hard in Western North Carolina, where Trump needs to perform well if he is to win the state and the state board of elections largely adopted them.

And even Trump himself has been all over the place on the issue, telling his supporters at a Pennsylvania rally last month to “go out, make a plan to vote early, vote absentee or vote in-person on election day.” He then undermined his own plea, wondering in the same speech, “Now we have this stupid stuff where you can vote 45 days early…I wonder what the hell happens during…[those] 45 [days].”

It was evident at the Fox News town hall — which was before an all-female audience and ostensibly focused on women’s issues — that many of the Republican attendees had a more nuanced view about early voting.

Kelly Murphy and her daughter Ashley told The Independent they were voting on Wednesday, the first day after in-person early voting in Georgia began.

“We all have been door knocking, and we’ve been texting people. We’ve been on different groups where we’re able to educate people about the choices they have to choose from,” Emily Harris, the vice president of the Republican Women of Forsyth County, told The Independent.

Tuesday broke the record for the state’s first day of early voting, according to Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for Georgia’s office of the secretary of state. More than 328,000 people cast their ballots.

Republicans know they’ll need as many people as possible to turn out to vote, no matter the method. As of Wednesday, Forsyth County, a longtime Republican stronghold, saw 13,006 people vote early in-person, according to data from the secretary’s office.

By contrast, DeKalb, an overwhelmingly Democratic county, saw 27,162 people vote in-person. On the second day of early voting at the Tucker-Reid H Cofer Library, which is located in the overwhelmingly DeKalb County, the line for early voting went out the door and cars packed the parking lot.

“I wanted to come out and get it done early,” Eion Dollerson from DeKalb County told The Independent at the Hairston Crossing Libary in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Dollerson did not disclose how he voted.

Democrats will likely be watching early voting results in counties like DeKalb and Fulton given their large African-American populations. As the Republican presidential nominee continues to discredit early voting options, early voting could also be an indicator of how big Democratic turnout will be.

But comparing early voting or mail-in ballots to last year’s turnout is somewhat unreliable, given that the 2020 presidential election took place during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some Republicans remain skeptical about early voting. Cynthia Brown, a treasurer for the Republican Women of Forsyth County, told The Independent that she might have to cast her ballot early, but would prefer to vote in person on Election Day.

“That’s just what I’ve always done,” she said. “I’m not an early voter.”

Conversely, Lisa Sandusky said she would vote early in person because it is more secure

“My mailman is always messing up,” she said. She then added that voting in person is “part of the fun of it.”