WASHINGTON, May 24 - Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was traveling to a campaign rally aboard Donald Trump's private jet in early April when he decided to broach the delicate issue of early voting.

As the Boeing 757 flew from Florida to Green Bay, Wisconsin, Johnson pressed the Republican candidate to use his speech to urge his supporters to cast their votes ahead of Election Day.

Early voting often draws a torrent of vitriol from Trump, who falsely claims it is vulnerable to fraud and cost him the 2020 election.

"We have to do everything we can to fully utilize the rules as they are written. Democrats certainly have," said the 69-year-old senator, himself a recent convert to early voting.

But not only did Trump fail to extol the importance of early voting at the April 2 rally, he told the crowd of more than 3,000 supporters that his goal was ultimately to limit voting to Election Day only, a message greeted with huge cheers.

At the last presidential election in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, early voting surged to new highs. And in the 2022 midterm elections, half of U.S. voters cast their vote before Election Day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

November's election will be a closely fought contest between Trump and President Joe Biden, opinion polls suggest. The Democratic incumbent defeated Trump in Wisconsin by just 20,000 votes in 2020 and the state is again a major prize for both parties.

Not pursuing an early voting strategy in 2024 would be "political suicide," said Brian Schimming, the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party.

Reuters spoke to Republican Party leaders in four of the likely seven battleground states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina. They told Reuters they are making a big push to encourage Republicans not to wait until Election Day to cast their ballots.

The newly installed leaders of the Republican National Committee (RNC) - Michael Whatley and Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump - insist the former president is on board with early voting.

"We urge all Republicans to go vote early, by mail, on Election Day, or whichever method works best for them," Claire Zunk, an RNC spokesperson, said in a statement to Reuters.

But, as Johnson's experience underscores, it's not clear that voters are willing to embrace the new message after Trump's repeated and continuing claims of fraud.

Suzanne Sliva, a 60-year-old entrepreneur from Lucas, Texas, said she views early voting with suspicion and believes it should be reserved only for exceptional circumstances.

"Voting is one day," she said, while waiting for Trump to speak at a National Rifle Association (NRA) event in Dallas, Texas last weekend. "Everything gets counted in one day, and we know before midnight who the winner is."

Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida who has been analyzing elections data for over 30 years, said it would take a lot of messaging to change some voters' minds, "most importantly from Trump himself."

MIXED MESSAGING

Trump's position, however, remains unclear. At a campaign rally in New Jersey on May 11, the candidate, for the first time in a speech this year, promoted early voting for the Nov. 5 general election: "Get an absentee or mail-in ballot, vote early or vote on Election Day," he told supporters.

Yet in the same speech he said "mail-in voting is largely corrupt."

And, at a rally on April 13, Trump likened early voting to "stealing" the vote. In March, he called mail-in voting a hoax.

In fact, he has called mail-in voting corrupt or a hoax at least 11 times in speeches this year alone, according to a Reuters analysis of his prepared remarks.

But away from the teleprompter, Trump has posted twice on Truth Social since mid-April that early voting is important.

"That is really not helpful," said Oscar Brock, an RNC committee member from Tennessee and a supporter of early voting, referring to Trump's mixed messaging.

Voting rights groups accuse the RNC of double dealing in publicly backing early voting. They note the RNC, Republican lawmakers in battleground states and conservative groups continue to pass laws and file lawsuits that restrict access to early voting.

The activists say these efforts disproportionately affect minority groups, who tend to vote for the Democratic Party in large numbers. Republicans deny the accusation, saying they are seeking to protect the integrity of the voting process.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the former president had always advocated for free and fair elections, "where every legal vote is counted and any instance of fraud is rooted out."

"Democrats have proven they are willing to change voting rules during the middle of a pandemic that made our elections more susceptible to fraud," Cheung said.

In the 2020 presidential election, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Democratic election officials in many states expanded early voting by adding ballot drop box locations, extending voting deadlines, and increasing the use of mail-in voting.

The Democratic National Committee is investing "tens of millions" dollars to promote early and mail-in voting this year, said Alex Floyd, the DNC's rapid response director.

In 2020, 82% of Biden supporters voted early, compared to 62% of Trump's, according to the Pew Research Center, an independent Washington-based think tank. Nearly twice as many Biden voters sent ballots by mail compared to Trump supporters, according to Pew.

SWING STATES

Despite the mixed messaging from Trump, the chairmen of state Republican parties in the four swing states told Reuters they are pressing ahead with an early voting push.

Josh McKoon, chairman of the Republican Party in Georgia, said the party on April 29 sent a video promoting early voting to 70,000 registered Republicans through social media and email.

In North Carolina, Republican chair Jason Simmons said the party is holding training sessions with county