Republicans encourage voters to cast mail ballots, despite Trump's attacks

When President Donald Trump wrote on social media in August that there should be "no mail-in voting" and that Americans should "USE PAPER BALLOTS ONLY," he appeared to contradict the efforts of Republican officials and activists across the country who have spent the last several years encouraging Republicans to embrace absentee voting. Trump’s post echoed what had become nearly universal messaging among party members after the 2020 election, when he sought, baselessly, to blame his loss that year to the pandemic-related spike in mail-in voting. But since then, many Republicans, including some who had been the most avid opponents of absentee voting, have said they recognize that the practice is necessary to win elections. Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who wove repeated criticisms