Axios: “Early voting in the 2020 election across the U.S. on Friday had already reached 61.7% of 2016’s total turnout, according to state data compiled by the U.S. Elections Project. The coronavirus pandemic and its resultant social-distancing measures prompted a massive uptick in both mail-in ballots and early voting nationwide, setting up an unprecedented and potentially tumultuous count in the hours and days after the polls close on Nov. 3. Both Hawaii (104.5%) and Texas (100.4%) have already surpassed 2016’s total turnout via early voting. The latter has morphed into a key swing state that could allow Joe Biden to land a knockout blow on Trump’s re-election chances.”
“Experts say it is essentially impossible to read anything into 2020’s unprecedented turnout at the current moment. While high-turnout elections traditionally favor Democrats, the pandemic’s effects have caused traditional models to be cast aside — making it difficult to draw any conclusions about the possible outcome of the election from these historic numbers.”