The head of the Illinois Republican Party is urging GOP primary voters to cast ballots early and vote by mail despite President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that those methods lead to election fraud and spurred his recent calls for elections to be nationalized.
The dichotomy between the state GOP’s efforts and the Republican president’s comments reflects the difficulties the Illinois political party faces as it struggles for votes — and relevance — in a state where Democrats dominate state government.
In a newsletter sent to party faithful on Feb. 2, state GOP Chair Kathy Salvi noted, “Early voting will be well underway and I encourage every Republican to start preparing a clear plan to vote now.
“Early voting gives you flexibility, convenience, and certainty that your voice will be heard in this critical election,” Salvi wrote. “I encourage you to take the pledge to vote early or vote by mail — and then ask your friends, family, and fellow Republicans to do the same. When we commit early, we build momentum, strengthen our grassroots efforts, and ensure Republicans turn out strong across Illinois.”
But even as Salvi pushes early voting and vote-by-mail, she also has been encouraging “election integrity” efforts that involve supporters of Trump’s unfounded belief that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.
In a previous newsletter on Jan. 9, Salvi urged supporters to follow the actions of the Illinois Conservative Union and its chair, Carol Davis, a self-professed “election integrity” expert. Davis has contended “there is fraud in every election in this country,” questioned the integrity of election machinery and has said vote-by-mail ballots are susceptible to fraud and are part of a Democratic plot to do away with in-person voting.
Davis promotes her organization’s connection to Cleta Mitchell, one of Trump’s post-2020 election attorneys who unsuccessfully tried to overturn election results in several states.
Salvi also has promoted that poll watchers and others participate in “training” offered by the far-right Moline-based Illinois Freedom Alliance. The group wants bans on early voting, voting by mail and a ban on all electronic election equipment. It also promotes events by saying, “Our elections are corrupt and broken.”
Trump in recent days has called for Republicans to “nationalize the voting” in elections, contending the federal government has a role despite the Constitution’s clear language that the individual states determine how elections are to be held — a clause aimed at preventing federal government overreach.
“The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should … administer the election, but they have to do it honestly,” Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office. He had cited 15 states, though not by name, as being rife with voter fraud.
Trump’s comments came just days after the FBI conducted a raid of ballots and election material used in the 2020 presidential election in Fulton County, Georgia.
Last August, on his Truth Social media platform, Trump vowed to begin an effort to “get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS” and voting machines.
“WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE,” he wrote. “ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS. I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS.”
Trump followed that up in late October, writing on social media that the “2020 Presidential Election, being Rigged and Stolen, is a far bigger SCANDAL” than cheating in sports. Citing the 2026 midterm election, he wrote, “No mail-in or ‘Early’ Voting.”
Still, in May 2024 as a presidential candidate, Trump took a different view.
“ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!” he wrote on social media.
Illinois Democrats have taken note of the Trump administration’s focus on elections, including the Department of Justice’s efforts to obtain sensitive voter information from the state — a move backed by Illinois’ three GOP members of Congress.
“Republicans are shameless in their attempts to bring America backwards,” said state Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, who chairs the state Democratic Party. “We have to continue working to protect Illinoisans’ right to have their voices heard at the polls — without the risk of being targeted by their own government.”
