“Recriminations about who is responsible for the fizzled ‘red wave’ on Tuesday began as soon as the disappointing results trickled in that night,” writes journalist Julie Kelly. She goes on to argue over what part of the blame Donald Trump does or does not deserve, as well as candidates of various quality. Then she gets to the point: election rules and effort.

Overall, more than 6 million more Republicans than Democrats voted in the election. So, what happened to the red wave?

If there’s any single culprit, the post-Dobbs political climate was more toxic to Republicans than conventional wisdom suggested. While many pre-election polls indicated abortion was not a top issue post-Dobbs, the exit polls showed otherwise. Abortion was listed as the second most-important issue, only 4 points behind inflation, the top answer at 31 percent. Of those who listed abortion as the most important issue, 76 percent voted for Democrats. Nearly 40 percent said they were “angry” that Roe v. Wade was overturned; 85 percent of self-proclaimed “angry” abortion supporters voted Democrat.

Kelly notes that, in part as a result of this, the GOP once again did poorly with the “under-30 cohort.”

But something doesn’t add up here. An interesting comparison between 2022 exit polls and the 2018 midterm election—when Democrats picked up 40 seats and regained control of the House—showed Republicans did better this year among every single constituency group including minorities, suburbanites, white women, and even young voters. Independents gave Democrats a 12-point advantage in 2018 but statistically tied between both parties this year.

The major difference between 2018 and 2022, of course, is how Americans vote. Just as Democrats capitalized on lax, pandemic-related election guidance in 2020, the party again took advantage of these rules in 2022. According to Ballotpedia, 28 million Americans voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in 2018. Early data shows 52 million voters requested mail-in ballots for this election; nearly half were Democrats while 28 percent were Republicans.

And therein lies the biggest obstacle — and source of blame — for Republicans. These reckless methods of voting are not going away any time soon and, in fact, will only get more irresponsible and opaque in so-called “swing” states now controlled by Democratic governors and legislatures.

This is clearly an area where national and statewide GOP officials faltered. No matter how much Republicans prefer to vote on Election Day, the party must work to change that habit. Republicans admittedly are at a big disadvantage since mini-colonies of loyal voters on college campuses and public employee union halls don’t exist for the GOP like they do for Democrats, so efforts must get underway immediately. Stubborn adherence to traditional ways of voting cost Trump the presidency in 2020 — in addition to the other Democratic Party chicanery and lawlessness — and have now prevented Republicans from gaining a mandate-level majority in the House and any chance to take a slim majority in the Senate.

“Elections are not run anymore like they were in the 1980s,” Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway said on Wednesday night. “There is now [an] extensive period of voting where people who are smart are running get-out-the-vote operations every day, hauling in ballots every day. Republicans keep thinking Election Day is a single day and they think if they get everyone excited for that last day that that will be sufficient. That is not sufficient. There needs to be an effective ground game. That is on Republican leadership. And there’s only so much that everyone else can do with their enthusiasm.”

Indeed.

Kelly concludes:

Mechanics still matter. Republicans are partially responsible for constructing the unreliable election apparatus now in place for the foreseeable future. If they ever want to win again, and that’s a big if, the GOP must play by the rules they helped create.

Read the whole thing here.