Waukesha Times

The head of American Majority Action said Wisconsin Republicans are in an “arms race” with Democrats to mobilize to secure votes in the 2024 Presidential election.

"We are in an arms race with the left in regards to generating more ballots among mid-to-low propensity voters and partisan voter registration in battleground states like Wisconsin," Ned Ryun, founder and CEO of American Majority Action, told the Waukesha Times. "It is incumbent upon those who do not consider themselves to be reliable voters to request an absentee ballot, turn themselves into a likely voter.”

The Republican National Committee recently launched a “Swamp the Vote” campaign that it said is designed “to win by more than the margin of fraud by casting your vote and taking responsibility for ensuring every Republican and Trump voter in your household casts theirs, too.”

Former President Donald Trump promoted the campaign in a Truth Social video last week, saying, “whether you vote early, absentee, by mail or in person, we must swamp the radical Democrats with massive turnout.”

Trump is facing President Joe Biden (D) in a rematch of the 2020 election in which neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote in Wisconsin. Biden received 49.6% of the vote to Trump's 48.9%.

That close margin makes Wisconsin a battleground state in 2024. Trump and Biden are tied in Wisconsin, according to an April poll released by the League of American Voters. 

The latest polling average by RealClearPolitics also has the two presidential candidates tied among Badger State voters. 

When it comes to absentee voting, Waukesha County saw 190,016 absentee votes cast in the 2020 General Election. That’s 70% of the total 270,155 votes cast in the county during that election. 

Statewide, there were 1,970,195 absentee votes cast in the 2020 General Election, which is 59.54% of the 3,308,966 votes cast.

In Wisconsin, every registered voter in the state can request an absentee ballot without having to provide a reason. Voters can vote absentee by mail or absentee in person, and can request a ballot online at myvote.wi.gov. 

Ryun said that grassroots outreach programs have been launched in Wisconsin, especially to Conservative voters, to help bridge the voter turnout gap. These include door-to-door canvassing efforts and digital campaigns.

His comments echo those made by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley at an April party event.

“Over 50% of all voters in the United States, including Republicans and independents, are going to vote before Election Day,” said Whatley, reported the New York Post. “We have to talk to them before they vote. We need to build a national early vote program that is going to communicate through door knocks, through phone calls, through mail, through digital, through data, but we can’t wait till the week before the election.”