Trump and the RNC want slow counting of mail ballots to target Biden supporters

Former President Donald Trump's many lies about how he was defeated by President Joe Biden in the 2020 election are built on his bogus bewilderment about how the ballots were counted.

The COVID-19 pandemic boosted the popularity of early voting and mail ballots that year, and Democratic voters were far more likely to use those methods than Republicans. It was predicted months before the 2020 election that Trump would start with a lead for in-person voting on Election Day but that Biden could catch up and overtake him in the slow process of tallying mail ballots.

That was called at the time "the red mirage" and "the blue shift." And that's exactly what happened – fair and square – when Biden clinched Pennsylvania on the Saturday after the election, securing a presidential victory.

So Trump and the Republican National Committee, after years of trying to demonize mail ballots ahead of presidential contests, now want to make it sound somehow corrupt to count them after Election Day.

That could disenfranchise millions of voters, especially in some swing states where counting mail ballots takes days after the polls close. And that's exactly what Trump and the RNC want.

Targeting mail-in ballots is clearly targeting Democrat voters

Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, gave away the game during a Sunday morning appearance on Fox News when host Maria Bartiromo asked about a lawsuit the RNC filed in Nevada to stop that state from counting mail ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive after that day has passed.

Lara Trump, installed by her father-in-law as RNC co-chair in March, claimed that was all about ensuring "a free, fair and transparent election" by making Election Day "the last day that mail-in ballots can be counted."

"You cannot have ballots counted, Maria, after elections are over," Lara Trump declared.

Lara Trump and her father-in-law – and Fox News, while we're at it – know that cutting off mail ballot tallies on Election Day will eliminate the votes of more Democrats than Republicans.

That's the whole point.

Trump's up to his old tricks: Trump calls for 'election integrity' again. It's same ploy he used in 2020 and 2016.

Swing states have been changing voting laws

The winner and losers of the Nov. 5 election for president may well be called in the days after the polls close, like it was in 2020, because it takes time to count mail ballots. That election will probably be decided by seven swing states, like in 2020 – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Because states control their own elections, the country is covered by a patchwork of legislation and regulations on how ballots are distributed and counted. Several swing states have restrictions on when mail ballots can be counted.

In Pennsylvania, the Democratically controlled state House last week approved legislation that would change the law that currently says mail ballots can't be opened and tallied until 7 a.m. on Election Day. That bill, which now must be considered by the Republican-controlled state Senate, would allow county boards of election to start counting mail ballots up to seven days before the election.

Given that the Pennsylvania Republican Party is in lockstep with Trump and the RNC, things don't look too promising. Many Republicans in Pennsylvania's Senate were pleased to provide a platform for some of Trump's most ridiculous 2020 election lies after that election.

The RNC is working to limit who can vote and now votes are counted

Like Pennsylvania, mail ballots can't be counted until after 7 a.m. in Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. North Carolina does not start counting mail ballots until the afternoon on Election Day.

Any legislator in those states looking to change those rules in time for November's election will certainly run into opposition from the RNC, which has been on a legal spree in the name of "election integrity." The RNC as of Tuesday said it has filed 84 legal challenges on voting issues in 25 states.

The RNC, on Monday, filed to intervene in a Wisconsin case, attempting to stop the use of "drop boxes" where voters can deposit their ballots to be collected by elections workers.

The RNC, on Tuesday, filed to intervene in a legal case in Butler County, Pennsylvania, because primary voters who made mistakes recently while filing out mail ballots attempted to "cure" the problem by filing provisional ballots. The RNC wants to help the county stop those votes from being counted.

Trump keeps lying about 2020 mail ballots. It could hurt Republicans in November.

This isn't about stopping election fraud, since Trump and the RNC have repeatedly failed to prove any significant fraud impacted the 2020 election. It's about limiting who can vote.

Trump has been at this since 2016

Biden's campaign, in a memo to members of the news media Monday, noted that Trump and his campaign lost more than 60 legal challenges in his failed bid to overturn the 2020 election, many in the same swing states where the RNC is now going to court.

Is anyone surprised? GOP lawyer for 'election integrity' charged in fake electors scheme. That's just so Trump.

Biden's team accuses the RNC of filing "baseless lawsuits" that are really about "trying to plant the seeds of doubt and confusion" among voters so Trump can again claim a "stolen" election if he loses again.

Here is why that is a convincing argument: It's precisely what Trump did before he won the presidency in 2016 and when he lost it 2020.

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The RNC, understanding the edge it gives Democrats on mail ballots, has been saying since last summer that GOP voters should use them. But the face of the party, Trump, and his crew at the RNC have kept talking up baseless claims about mail ballots and election fraud.

It will fall to judges and state legislators, and maybe Congress, to hold the line on the Trump-RNC plot to disenfranchise 2024 voters. We know that because that's exactly how this played out four years ago.

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump is going after mail in ballots. It's not about election fraud