Former President Donald Trump has launched an early voting and absentee ballot campaign in preparation for the upcoming November election.
The move comes in stark contrast to Trump's previous remarks on early and absentee voting during the 2020 presidential election.
The campaign, titled "Swamp the Vote USA," was announced in a Tuesday video shared to Trump's Truth Social.
"Republicans must win and we will use every appropriate tool to beat the Democrats because they are destroying our country," Trump says opening his video. "We must swamp the radical Democrats with massive turnout."
The former president then encouraged viewers to register to vote, get an absentee ballot, and vote early.
"The way you win is to swamp them," he reiterated. "If we swamp them, they can't cheat. It just doesn't work out."
"With your vote, we will win a victory the likes of which no one has ever seen before," he said. Today we launched Swamp The Vote USA. Whether you vote absentee, by mail, early in person, or on Election Day—We will Secure Your Vote. JUST VOTE! They are all good options. The way to win is to Swamp Them with Votes!
Go to https://t.co/zha3Lfxw5H to request your ballot or… pic.twitter.com/gmzjxN5s9u
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) June 5, 2024
Trump's early voting promotion is part of the former president's "Trump Force 47" campaign, a joint effort with the Republican National Committee's (RNC) grassroots organization that "focuses on mobilizing highly-targeted voters in critical precincts across the battleground states and districts."
During a New Jersey rally last month, Trump said mail-in voting was "largely corrupt," and also compared early voting to "stealing" votes during a Pennsylvania rally in April. Trump also called early voting "totally corrupt" and "a hoax" during a Michigan rally in March.
President Joe Biden's campaign criticized Trump's course reversal on mail-in and absentee voting in a statement to Fox News.
"Donald Trump told his supporters as recently as February that mail-in voting was ‘totally corrupt’ – last September he proposed eliminating mail-in-voting altogether," campaign spokesperson James Singer told the outlet. "Trump has spent years saying early and mail in voting was ‘fraudulent,’ 'cheating,’ and ‘crooked.’ Apparently his campaign feels otherwise. Trump should own up to the lies about voting and elections he’s been telling for years."
In 2020, Trump said mail-in voting could lead to voter fraud.
“I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting,” he said in April that year, adding "all sorts of bad things can happen" with absentee ballots. “It shouldn’t be mail-in voting. It should be: You go to a booth, and you proudly display yourself,” Trump said.
