Summary

Donald Trump is likely to claim victory on election night, despite the vote count possibly extending over several days.

Early tallies may lean Republican, reflecting in-person votes, while absentee ballots counted later may shift toward Democrats, creating a “blue shift.”

Key states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada may take extra time to declare results due to laws and ballot processing delays.

Trump might exploit early Republican leads to allege fraud.

  • rustyfish@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    The democrats could lead the entire election from the very first vote onwards, and he will still declare himself the winner. The next weeks will be very bumpy for the Americans. Let’s just hope it will only be weeks.

    • JoJo@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      The courts have prepared for expedited process for election cases, shortening deadlines and speeding up cases, so hopefully it should cut short legal schenanigans, and actually resolve shit wayyy before certification deadlines

    • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      That’s certainly a possibility because he’s a chronic liar. But true or not, his followers will believe him and go to bed happy. Then when the final count is over they will refuse to believe he lost because in their minds they literally saw him win. This is his con man skill in action - the one thing he’s actually good at - plant a lie in people’s minds, and because it was there first it makes a nest and fights off other ideas that try to displace it.

  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Absentee ballots are one reason for “red mirage” that usually gives early leads to Republican candidates. The other reason is simply that Repubs tend to live in smaller counties with fewer people in them, which means their vote counts get finished earlier than larger urban areas where Democrats tend to live. The “red mirage” is followed by a “blue shift” when the democratic votes come in.

  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Early voting in the blue wall states is blocked for count until after precinct counts. So you will see early in the night, a mirage where perhaps Trump is up. This is when he’ll say he won, but by early morning, and the early vote count, the story might change. However Florida does count its early vote first.

    • MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      The red mirage/blue shift will probably be much smaller than prior elections, since it seems Trump supporters are using early or mail in voting more than before. The splits by party for these methods are smaller so far this year.