The huge early turnout is “primarily a good news story,” said Mr. McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida. “It’s helping election officials because it helps them manage the election better, and it’s helping voters because if they do have a problem with their ballot there’s more time.”Keep up with Election 2020So what do all of these early votes tell us about the state of the race? Even as Republicans urged their supporters to vote early, the president’s sustained disinformation campaign casting voting by mail as rife with fraud probably depressed early turnout among his supporters. Mr. Trump’s campaign is now counting on what he calls a “red wave” on Election Day that will overcome the Democrats’ apparent early voting advantage. Even when we aren’t facing a pandemic, a lot can happen to depress turnout on Election Day.

Source: New York Times October 21, 2020 23:24 UTC