On a momentous election day in the United States with a nation on the edge, voters who had not yet cast their ballots early headed to the polls. There were reports of long lines of voters waiting to cast their ballots in Arizona, Georgia, and elsewhere but such phenomena are common on Election Day. What is not common is the fact that more than 100 million ballots were cast before November 3rd, a record-breaking number. USA Today explained that the number includes, “35.7 million in-person early votes and 64.6 million ballots cast by mail.” It is estimated that total turnout could exceed 150 million, which by percentage of population has not happened since 1908. In the states of Texas, Washington, Hawaii, and Montana, turnout has already exceeded 2016 levels. 

The very first official results of the 2020 election showed 100% sweep for Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The tiny town of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire which has five eligible voters that include Republicans, cast all five votes at midnight and all of them for Biden. Meanwhile Arizona, a state that generally votes Republican appeared to swing toward Democrats if polls are to be believed. Still, Biden’s lead over Trump in the states of Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Pennsylvania narrowed in the immediate lead up to the election. Biden lead fell from double digits in October to 7.5% ahead of the election – still a healthy margin. A Republican pollster explained that the presidential election has come down to three swing states—North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio—and that Biden would need to win only one of those to win the election. 

As votes are cast the battle over whose ballots will count is in full swing. President Trump and the Republican Party have premised a White House victory on declaring a result prematurely and then legally challenging the legitimate counting of all votes. The pandemic shifted the way Americans vote and in Harris County, Texas, where 120,000 voters cast their ballots by car, county officials have now shut down the Covid-safe voting mechanism fearful that the state Republican Party will try to invalidate the votes. Harris County is home to Houston and leans heavily Democratic. Although the state Supreme Court and a federal court ruled against the GOP’s attempt to invalidate drive-through votes, the case heads to an appeals court and County officials, worried about endangering more votes, simply took down the drive-through option on election day. Meanwhile the US Postal Service announced that the pandemic and staffing shortfalls impacted the delivery of absentee ballots to voters in D...