Voter Drift
Time and time again, Republican political consultants are trying to get conservative voters to vote early and vote by mail. I am not opposed to voting early in person, but mail-in voting invites voter intimidation and may be off the mark.
The reason Democrats have been able to exploit early voting is because of the type of people they register to vote, such as elderly people in retirement homes and college students. To these populations, early voting is convenient, but once registered, they receive nagging Democrat communications to send in their ballot.
But voting early is only half of the equation. The problem is Republicans do not push people to register to vote as if asking someone if they are registered to vote, appears to be too personal and invassive of a question to ask. Scott Presler created Early Vote Action (https://earlyvoteaction.com/) which has its own app. He has made a point of getting people to register to vote and encourages early voting. Registering voters is important and his team knows this.
The problem Nebraska Republicans have in Congressional District Two is voter drift. This is where potential voters fail to register, or move and fail to re-register or register to vote outside the Republican Party. Think about this. How many people have moved into your neighborhood in the last four years? Are they registered to vote? How many people do you know who moved in the last four years? Did they re-register? Chances are, you probably know more than one such person. This drift is slow and persistent.
I can understand why some would register Libertarian due to various issues but the more troublesome trends come from non-partisans, and peripheral issue groups such as Legalize Marijuana Now! Party (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_Legal_Marijuana_NOW_Party) and the No Labels Party (https://www.nolabels.org/) which are recognized parties in Nebraska. Also, discontent in political parties can cause people to leave, but what effort is there to bring them back?
The Don Bacon campaign is easily irritated by me because they believe the race is super close. With comfort, I antagonize them because he will likely win despite polls saying the election is close. The Democrat Party is suffering from an exodus of viable candidates and as well as disillusioned voters. This was made clear in past election cycles where the Libertarian Party and Legalize Marijuana Party ran more statewide candidates than the Democrat Party. The Republican Party needs to exploit such exodus but has taken no substantial action to do so. This is a fundamental mistake.
In this image, you can see the voter registration count from Nebraska’s Second Congressional district. I have no idea why the No Labels group exists as they appear to have conservative ideas. At the same time, there are over 100,000 nonpartisan voters! Why?
Many of these nonpartisan people say they vote the person, not the party. But what kind of person? What is their criteria and why does no one ever ask but me? Think about this. Do you vote for the kind person who tells you white lies: “No, those pants do not make your butt look big. You look fabulous!” or the honest person who drops the facts with no sugar coating: “Make your butt look big?!? I see a whale! Where is the harpoon?”. Keep in mind, honesty is a virtue. These types of voters either have no solid principles unless challenged or have not reconciled past anger with the political parties. This is partly why Democrats win in local elections.
To add, the Republican Party has neglected gun owners and other potential voters when it comes to the voter registration process. Scott Presler pushed to do voter registration at gun shows and won (https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/scott-presler-continues-do-laps-around-republican-party/). He states such attendees are often not registered to vote (https://x.com/ScottPresler/status/1825356696048501084).
What if Republican candidates showed up at gun ranges to fire their own arms and learn of what other gun owners think and get them to register Republican? Republicans need to engage the public where the public is at. By doing so, Republicans gain voters and win elections.