Early ballots are processed in Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 8.

Photo: Mark Hertzberg/Zuma Press

Kimberley Strassel says the GOP needs to “get in the game” and adopt the left’s strategy of pushing early and mail-in voting (“The GOP’s Lost Vote Harvest,” Potomac Watch, Dec. 9). But she shows the folly of early voting in Pennsylvania, where so many people voted for John Fetterman, who delayed his single, disastrous debate until late in the game. What if the left’s media wing hadn’t succeeded in hiding the late-breaking Biden laptop issue in 2020? Perhaps many voters would have changed their vote if that information had come out.

Americans should walk or drive to their designated poll on that given Tuesday, stand in line and vote their conscience with all the information available. Every other route is fraught with potential fraud and pitfalls.

Michael S. Beates

Winter Park, Fla.

As a 25-year precinct committeeman who participated in over two dozen elections, I mostly disagree with Arthur Herman (“The GOP Needs to Embrace Early Voting,” op-ed, Dec. 2). He misses the principal problem: third-party access to ballots. Early voting, absentee ballots, drop boxes and mail-out ballots all create huge avenues for mischief.

My election experience was with mechanical voting machines, which were nearly impossible to compromise. After 30 years as an electronic-warfare engineer, I can almost guarantee that any electronic voting machine is vulnerable. The most secure election has ballot contact by only the voter and the counter. Any machine interface will ensure third-party access at some point. The systems in use in South Carolina are pretty good, but only if protected by honest election officials. The more people, the greater the risk.

Tom S. Teetor

Pawleys Island, S.C.

Mr. Herman makes a good point in advising Republicans to take full advantage of mail-in voting and early-voting processes. But he misses the point about Republican resistance to mail-in voting. The term “mail-in voting” fails to differentiate between two ways of voting via mail. In one process, individual voters request ballots from their localities. In the other process, the state mails ballots to all registered voters. The former is valid and precise. Fraud and abuse are far more likely when the state mails unsolicited ballots to masses of people, and basic controls such as signature verification are much weaker.

There is a world of difference between these two processes, yet they are lumped together as “mail-in voting.” Republicans are more likely to encourage mail-in voting if the only approved process is one where people request their own ballots.

Keith Olson

Buckeye, Ariz.