Get Ready for a Strange Election Night

David Wasserman: “It is absolutely imperative that every news outlet prepare viewers for the reality that unprecedented partisan polarization of early/Election Day votes makes lopsided batches of results expected, not suspicious, on 11/3.”

Jonathan Bernstein: “I think that’s the best way to put it. Those who have been following this topic know to expect a ‘red mirage’ as last-minute absentee-ballot voters, typically younger and therefore more likely to support Democrats, are the last to have their votes counted, with the process potentially stretching for days or even weeks after Election Day. There’s also some expectation that states where early and absentee votes are the first to be counted will show a big early lead for Joe Biden until in-person Election Day votes start getting tallied. But those are only general patterns, and some states may differ.”

“The safe thing to say is that we may see some wild swings as votes are counted, and that’s just an artifact of the very different voting methods different groups are using.”