Portside

In ancient mythology, Sisyphus was condemned for eternity to repeatedly push a heavy boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down when it neared the top. I am reminded of the story of Sisyphus every time a well-meaning journalist reports on the latest effort by the establishment GOP to have the party embrace mail-in voting for 2024.

For four years, Republican party operatives have tried to convince Donald Trump to stop attacking mail-in voting. Every time they appear close to achieving their goal, Trump steps in and rolls the boulder back down the hill. Like Sisyphus, those arguing within the GOP to embrace mail-in voting are attempting something that is both brutally difficult and ultimately futile.

After the 2022 midterms, many Republicans began sounding the alarm that the party’s insistence on Election Day in-person voting was costing them elections. While Democrats were able to get out the vote over the course of weeks, Republicans were limited to a single day.

Bowing to this reality, in June 2023 the Republican National Committee announced a new “Bank Your Vote” campaign, which encouraged “in-person early voting, absentee voting, and ballot harvesting where legal.” Trump, who was still obsessed with the results of the 2020 election, reluctantly starred in a video in which he is visibly reading from a teleprompter and begrudgingly echoing the same message.

The GOP thought it had achieved its goal. The boulder was near the top of the hill. We all know what happened next.

Donald Trump formally took control of the GOP after clinching the nomination in March 2024. Among his first tasks was installing a new chair, who campaigned for the job citing his past role in successful voter suppression efforts, as well as his daughter-in-law as vice chair.

Trump also installed a new senior counsel for election integrity — Christina Bobb, the author of a book called “Stealing Your Vote: The Inside Story of the 2020 Election and What It Means for 2024.” Bobb would soon be indicted as part of the Arizona fake elector scheme.

As a part of this shake up, “Bank Your Vote” was shuttered. In its place, the Republican National Committee (RNC) stood up “Grow the Vote.” Once again, the campaign professionals hoped to use this new launch to jumpstart a mail-in voting initiative. According to the RNC at the time, Grow the Vote would, among other things, enhance “absentee ballot and mail-in programs.”

Grow the Vote was short-lived. Within a matter of months, the boulder was back at the bottom of the hill.

The curse of Sisyphus is that — despite his repeated failures — he was never allowed to stop trying to roll the boulder up the hill. The curse of Trump is that the RNC cannot stop its futile efforts either.

In June, the RNC announced its latest initiative: “Swamp the Vote.” Accompanied once again by a slick website and Trump video of him uncomfortably reading from a teleprompter, “Swamp the Vote” was greeted with great fanfare.

Republicans signaled that the grownups had finally won the internal fight over mail-in voting.  Sisyphus had, they insisted, finally pushed the boulder to the top of the hill.

Conservative leaning media proclaimed: “Trump does 180 on mail-in voting with plans to ‘swamp’ the vote.”

Except, he hadn’t and soon the boulder rolled back down the hill just as it always has.

The Los Angeles Times recently acknowledged the dilemma. “The Republican presidential nominee — who falsely says that mail-in voting is plagued by fraud and cost him the White House four years ago — continues to trash the popular method of casting ballots, complicating his own party’s efforts to get out the vote.”

On Friday, Trump told a Pennsylvania crowd that he and his campaign “want to get rid of mail-in voting.” The boulder, as heavy as ever, sat at the bottom of the hill once again.

I have no doubt that in the remaining weeks before the election, the political professionals remaining in the GOP will again insist that mail-in voting is part of their get-out-the-vote (GOTV) program even as Trump vilifies mail-in voting and disclaims the need for any GOTV program at all.

In a messaging dispute between Trump and faceless operatives, Trump will win every time, even as it costs him and other Republicans their elections. To be clear, no one should have sympathy for their predicament. The Republican Party and their down ballot candidates are reaping what they sowed.

The RNC let itself be controlled by Donald Trump. Its officers allowed it to be run by his daughter-in-law and assorted sycophants. The other candidates on the ballot eagerly promoted election denialism when they thought it would help them in their primary elections.

The GOP’s punishment, to watch as Trump destroys their prospects for November by opposing a popular form of voting, is lenient compared to the damage they have done to our country and our democracy. Being forced to repeatedly push a heavy boulder up a hill for eternity is the least Republicans should expect.

As the founder of Democracy Docket and Partner at Elias Law Group, Marc Elias is a nationally recognized authority in voting rights, redistricting and law. In 2020, Marc led the historic legal effort to protect voting rights, winning over 60 lawsuits against the GOP’s efforts to suppress the vote. As Republicans continue to mount aggressive challenges to voting, Marc continues to fight back in court and on Twitter. Fighting for democracy by his side is Marc’s Portuguese Water Dog named Bode.

Democracy Docket is a voting rights and media platform that tracks election litigation. It has been described as liberal-leaning and progressive. It was founded in 2020 by Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias and is published by Democracy Docket, LLC. (Wikipedia.)