Voters Like Early Voting and Voter ID, No Matter What Politicians Say

Majorities of Americans want casting a ballot to be easy and secure.

With another close presidential election looming, among the hotly contested issues, logically enough, is how elections are administered. Who gets to vote and how they cast their ballots can have a big impact on a race decided by a whisker. That's led Democrats to oppose voter identification requirements and Republicans to condemn (though they've had second thoughts) early and mail-in voting. But voters themselves have a bone to pick with both parties, since they favor both ID and early voting.

Party Officials With Strong Election Policy Opinions

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law forbidding localities to require voters to present identification before casting ballots. "The legislation…is a direct response to a controversial ballot measure approved this year by voters in Huntington Beach requiring people to show photo identification at the polls," noted Politico's Tyler Katzenberger.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic contender for the country's highest elected office, objected in 2021 that it could be "almost impossible" for some people, "especially people who live in rural communities," to provide identification documents in order to vote.

Republicans also have concerns about the way Americans vote, but they worry about early and mail-in ballots. At a May rally in New Jersey, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump told the audience that "mail-in voting is largely corrupt." At an April rally in Wisconsin, Trump insisted that voting should be limited to election day only. And just last week he mocked Michigan's early voting procedures, saying "you have the rest of your life to vote anytime you want."

In 2021, The Washington Post's Amy Gardner, Kate Rabinowitz, and Harry Stevens found that Republican lawmakers in 43 states had made efforts to "limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting." Earlier this month, CNN's Casey Gannon and Paula Reid reported that "in battleground states…Republicans are suing to challenge everything from whether mail-in ballot envelopes are properly sealed to whether they are postmarked correctly."

Voters Want Easy, Secure Voting

Officials in the two parties have strong opinions about how elections should be run. But those opinions don't jibe with those of most Americans.

"76% of U.S. adults favor the concept of early voting," according to a Gallup poll published last week. "Two other election law policies are supported by even more Americans – requiring photo identification to vote (84%) and providing proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time (83%)."

Democrats and Republicans differ in the strength of their support for these ideas. But what's remarkable is that majorities of the partisans of both parties and of independent voters favor early voting (95 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of independents, and 57 percent of Republicans), requiring photo ID at voting places (67 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of independents, and 98 percent of Republicans), and requiring proof of citizenship of those registering to vote (66 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of independents, and 96 percent of Republicans).

The poll didn't specifically ask about mail-in voting, but a separate survey earlier this month found that 27 percent of Democrats, 22 percent of independents, and 13 percent of Republicans planned to vote "by mailing or dropping off an absentee ballot." Forty-six percent of Democrats, 43 percent of independents, and 31 percent of Republicans planned to vote early by any means.

In February, Pew Research also found majority support for photo ID requirements, early voting, and allowing anybody to vote by mail. Ninety-five percent of Republicans favored photo ID, with the agreement of 69 percent of Democrats. In that survey, though, while 64 percent of GOP voters favored early voting (88 percent of Democrats), only 28 percent supported mail-in ballots (84 percent of Democrats). That suggests Republican positions are shifting somewhat, if not completely, on the idea of casting ballots in ways that don't require going to voting places on election day.

(Most) Republicans Shift Their Position and Voters Turn Out

To their credit, Republican officials seem to be getting the message. Whether they realize that they're at odds with their own supporters, or it's finally dawned on them that votes in your corner count no matter when they arrive, they've shifted gears on getting voters to cast ballots any way they can. But they have an internal challenge to their attempt to get out the early vote.

"Republicans are pouring tens of millions of dollars into getting GOP voters to cast ballots before Election Day," Politico's Lisa Kashinsky wrote three weeks ago. "They're frustrated because Donald Trump keeps getting in the way."

Trump has slightly softened his earlier absolute stance against early voting. He even said at one point that he would cast his own ballot before election day, then reversed himself. Signs at his rallies urge supporters to cast their votes early—but he still ridicules the practice.

The shift—muddled though it may be—seems to have worked. Record numbers of Republicans have joined Democrats, independents, and third-party voters in voting early.

"Republicans make up 35% of the early vote in the 27 states [for which data is available], up from 29% at the same point in 2020," CNN's Matt Holt, Ethan Cohen and Molly English noted this week. "Democrats, who made up 45% of the early vote at this point in 2020, account for 39% of preelection ballots cast now."

As indicated by California's law banning localities from requiring voter ID, Democrats have not made a similar shift to catch up with the preferences of their own base. Party officials remain overwhelmingly committed to allowing voting without identification requirements, no matter what voters prefer.

Of course, none of the above addresses the merits of the photo ID requirements, early voting, mail-in ballots, or any other election-related procedures. There's still plenty of room to debate whether any of these are good ideas, bad ideas, or matters of personal preference.

But the American people, by and large, want voting to be easy and to involve measures that they believe ensure some degree of honesty. To the extent that party bosses and elected officials differ with the public on how elections should be run, they're picking fights with their own voters.