Does Ballot Chasing Work?

My VIPs for this week are the “thousands of attendees at a Trump rally Thursday in Las Vegas” who were “ready to collect mail-in ballots on-site.” According to Katelynn Richardson, collecting ballots is new for the Republicans. 

The strategy is a major shift for Nevada Republicans, who opposed the legalization of ballot harvesting in 2020. Now, conservative activists and GOP operatives are leaning into the new rules, asking voters to bring ballots to rallies and doing whatever it takes to make it easy for Republicans to get their votes in early.

“We don’t like early voting, but its how the game is,” Turning Point Action Las Vegas field representative Schayden Gorai told the Daily Caller News Foundation, explaining these are “the rules that the Democrats have set.”

Early voting numbers have been strong for Republicans, who lead Democrats by nearly 24,000 votes between in-person and mail ballots as of Friday morning. If Democrats can’t change the current margins, which have them up in mail ballots but trailing Republicans by 25% for in-person early voting, longtime Nevada political reporter and editor of The Nevada Independent Jon Ralston wrote Thursday night the party is in “big, big trouble.”

Former President Donald Trump – and others who spoke at the Turning Point-sponsored rally Thursday, including Vivek Ramaswamy, Charlie Kirk, and Tulsi Gabbard – urged supporters in the crowd to get out early and bring others along. Prior to the rally, a text blast was sent out letting attendees know about the ballot drop-off option. Fliers and other messaging likewise encouraged supporters to bring their ballots.

Republicans launched the new approach when Trump spoke in Reno earlier this month. Now that more people know about the option, campaign staff say the method is gaining some traction…..

While many voters maintain reservations about mail ballots, the messaging is landing with some….

The collection at the rally is only part of a broader strategy Turning Point calls “ballot chasing.” …

While there has been a more aggressive effort to secure ballots, those working with the Trump campaign believe the GOP’s election integrity efforts have also given voters the confidence to turn out in greater number….