Image CreditVictoria Marshall
In a roundtable discussion Tuesday night, House Republicans and state election officials signaled their support of states expanding early voting procedures in states where Republicans can’t yet tighten election rules.
“Early voting is the most secure way of voting prior to Election Day because it is exactly like Election Day,” South Carolina Election Commission Executive Director Howard Knapp said. South Carolina established early voting for the first time last year, when its Republican supermajority legislature voted in favor of two weeks of in-person voting prior to Election Day. Knapp attributes early voting’s popularity among Republicans to South Carolina’s strict voter ID requirements.
“What really got early voting passed in South Carolina is that you have to have an ID,” Knapp said. “If there’s an issue with you as a voter it can be solved during the voting period prior to Election Day.”
The roundtable was hosted by the House Election Integrity Caucus and House Administration Committee, and led by Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., co-chair of the former caucus. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose echoed Knapp’s comments on the security of early voting.
“It’s unfortunately a false choice that is offered by folks sometimes on both sides of the aisle that you have to choose either a secure election or a convenient election,” LaRose said. “That’s not a real choice. You don’t have to choose one or the other. States like ours demonstrate
