The Republican National Committee (RNC) says it is cutting into the Democratic Party’s advantage in early voting.
{mosads}A memo from the RNC released Wednesday breaks down absentee ballots and early voting in five battleground states. It asserts that Republicans are gaining ground on Democrats with less than two weeks to go until Election Day.
“Putting a dent in the Democrat early vote numbers was one of the goals we had in mind when we decided to revamp our ground game in 2013, and this cycle we have had a renewed focus on competing with Democrats right from the outset,” the memo reads.
In the memo, Republicans say that they currently lead in the number of absentee ballots returned in Florida and North Carolina, two states GOP nominee Donald Trump will need to win to make it to 270 electoral votes.
The RNC played up its canvassing efforts, which it says are boosting early voting among Republicans. The memo says Republicans have broken the party’s 2012 record by knocking on 12 million doors while employing more than 7,000 paid staffers and organizers on the ground.
Meanwhile, Democrats are seeking to highlight the increased enthusiasm of female and Latino voters, two groups that Trump has angered with inflammatory rhetoric throughout his campaign.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign released a memo on Monday that shows 133,000 Latino voters in Florida have already voted, a 99 percent increase from 2012. And female voters in the state are voting more than male voters, according to the memo.
Independent analyses show brighter spots for Democrats in early voting.
According to an NBC analysis, Democrats are leading Republicans in early voting in eight of 12 battlegrounds states including Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
And a CNN analysis from Friday found that Democrats have improved their standing in states like Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Utah in comparison to that time in 2012.