FLORIDA – Vice President Kamala Harris’ and former President Donald Trump’s campaigns are tracking who voted early and who hasn’t to determine where to spend campaign money.
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Political campaigns use that information to target voters who haven’t voted by mailing fliers or sending a text message.
As soon as you cast a ballot, they stop targeting you.
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Daniel Cronrath teaches political science at Florida State College of Jacksonville. He said the campaigns can’t tell who you voted for but they do know if you voted.
“The only thing that municipality or county won’t know is who you voted for but the reality is every time you vote, it’s recorded,” Cronrath said. “Whether you voted early, whether you voted absentee, all that information is public knowledge.
This matters because the parties don’t want to focus campaign resources on convincing you to go vote. Until you do, they have to text and send you things in the mail.
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“When voters from either party choose to get out early and vote whether by absentee or early voting, it allows the campaign to free up resources from you and focus them on voters that typically vote later in the cycle. Number one thing you can do if you’re highly motivated is vote early,” Cronrath said.
This dynamic hurt Republicans in 2020 when there were a lot of concerns in the party about election integrity, specifically over things like ballot drop boxes.
Ultimately, it meant fewer of their voters cast ballots because waiting until Election Day comes with risk.
“If you wait until Election Day something may happen,” Cronrath said. “You may not get to the voting booth that day. History is filled with well-intentioned people who meant to vote but did not get out to vote in time. Life can happen, and weather events can happen. Again, if you really want to participate in the election process, vote as early as you can.”
This is why there are concerns about Election Day voting. In the swing states like Georgia, the vote difference could only be a few thousand. Even if 1% of voters wait until Election Day, but have something come up, those lost votes could swing the election.