While attending the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show, I had a chance to meet with Scott Presler. Presler is the founder of Early Vote Action, a group that advocates for people to register to vote. Not only does Presler push for registration, he wants to make sure if folks aren’t able to vote on election day, they vote early.
By most accounts, he played a key roll in moving the swing state of Pennsylvania from blue in 2020 to red in 2024. And that could well have been the difference between a Trump administration and a Harris administration that would have been, if anything, even more hostile to Second Amendment rights that Bidan was.
We interviewed Presler on February 1 in the main hallway of the Pennsylvania Farm Complex. Portions of this interview have been edited for clarity and readability.
Petrolino: Today I’m talking with Scott Pressler. I am at the Great American Outdoor Show, 2025 Scott, how are you today?
Presler: Life is good. I’m here with hunters, and I’m here with a whole bunch of Pennsylvania voters that we’re trying to get to continue voting in elections.
Petrolino: Speaking about that in Pennsylvania, why don’t you give me a little walk through about your role in Pennsylvania and your organization and what you guys are all about.
Presler: My organization is Early Vote Action. That’s EarlyVoteAction.com and we really came into Pennsylvania knowing that 2020 was decided by 80,000 votes, and so I went, okay, let’s look at some math of demographics that agree with us.
There are 80,000 truckers. Well, truckers may not be here on election day. Let’s get them to vote early. Let’s get them a mail-in ballot. There are 90,000 Amish. The Amish get married on Tuesdays in November. Did you know that? Tuesdays in November. Let’s get them a mail-in ballot. There are 800,000 veterans. There are 930,000 hunters, knowing that 30% of Pennsylvania hunters are not registered to vote.
My organization courts voters that agree with us, gets them registered, gets them mobilized, and that’s how we were able to deliver Pennsylvania for Donald J. Trump [in 2024].
Petrolino: I don’t want to say you bulldozed your way across the Keystone State, but that is a good way that we could put it.
Now you have maybe your sights set on some other areas in the country that might be, interested in your tactics, or at least your tactics might work well with?
Presler: Yes. We want to shore up Pennsylvania and take it off the table for Democrats, but we also want to focus on the New Jersey governorship and flip that from blue to red this year, Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
But we are also very meticulous, understanding that there are also other supreme court races, like in Wisconsin on April 1. And those can have national ramifications. So this year, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and then looking forward into the midterms in 2026.
Petrolino: I’m from Jersey, so I have a tremendous vested interest in the work that you’re doing. And one of the interesting things that I saw, and I think you noticed this as well, is Jersey flipped seven counties from the last presidential election to the current one. So what do you think the bandwidth is there? You think we’re going to flip more than seven in the gubernatorial?
Presler: Well again, if you’re a numbers guy, let’s focus on 2021.[New Jersey’s gubernatorial election] was decided by 80,000 votes. That’s nothing.
And what has happened since 2020 and since 2021? A state that Joe Biden won by double digits, Kamala Harris narrowly only won that by five percentage points. This is a state that is trending to the right. This is a state that — Passaic County, home to our beautiful Hispanic community, actually voted Republican for Donald Trump.
Our strategy is to bring voter registration to all 21 counties, stop the bleeding in Essex and in Camden, stop the bleeding in Bergen, and then we need sky high turnout in places like Sussex County and, of course, Salem, Cape May, Atlantic, Monmouth…those are all areas that we need to really get Republicans to come out in big beautiful numbers.
Petrolino: I’m very much a here and now kind of guy, like you are too, but we also have to look forward. What are we thinking about after, let’s say 2025? The midterms?
Presler: Hopefully we deliver the Congress to Trump in the midterms…
Petrolino: What are we seeing going forward?
Presler: It’s a broad question. It really depends. For example, I’m a chess player, so here’s how I look at it…These Supreme Court races. If we say “no” in Pennsylvania and defeat them, these three Democrats will be kicked off the bench. Looking forward, what does that mean? Well, that means there’s going to be a special election in 2027, another off year election. That same year, all 67 county boards of elections, county commissioners are up for election. They’re the ones that control the election.
If we’re smart and want to elect J.D. Vance as our next president, then we need to take control in 2027 in Pennsylvania, shoring up 2028. Really what I’m trying to say to you is you must vote in 2025. You must vote in 2026. You must vote in 2027. And you must vote in the presidential in 2028.
Petrolino: Okay, two more things, real quick. What does this mean for gun owners and the Second Amendment?
Presler: I would argue with President Trump, we now have an administration that is going to be pro-Constitution. Pro-Second Amendment.
And look at what happened…Nobody I think is really understanding the ramifications of Donald Trump winning. Daniel Penny was found not guilty by a Manhattan jury, a jury of his peers. I don’t believe that Daniel Penny would have been found not guilty had Kamala won.
Us winning the popular vote gave permission for society to understand that freedom and the Constitution are on the rise.
Petrolino: Scott, where can people find you? Where can people support you? Direct them to all of your socials, your website, everything. Tell me everything about you.
Presler: My X, my main platform is @ScottPressler, and you can also financially support our work at EarlyVoteAction.com – if you want us to continue in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and beyond.
Petrolino: All right, Scott, thank you so much. Is there anything that I left out?
Presler: Register to vote at your current address. Register to vote as a Republican, so you can vote in the closed primaries of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And look forward to continuing voting and continuing winning.
Petrolino: Perfect Scott. Thank you so much. I appreciate you, and we are at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 2025.
Thank you Mr. Pressler.