During Arizona’s U.S. Senate elections in November 2018, Republican Martha McSally was leading as per the initial results from the in-person voting.

However, soon she conceded to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema as the advantage started to shift following the tally of the postal ballots. Sinema was declared as the elected senator, six days after the elections.

At the time, U.S. President Donald Trump had called it an “electoral corruption” and raised the question of whether a new election should be conducted.

A similar “blue shift” is expected during the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections in November, with blue representing the Democrats. Trump may appear to be ahead in the early results, however, his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, may emerge as the final winner in the days that follow the election day.

This is because of the poll results conducted by Reuters in August concerning the postal ballots. While half of the Democrats said that they will prefer to vote by mail, only one-quarter of the Republicans said so.

Counting the postal ballots is a tedious task to perform as multiple steps are involved. The envelopes need to be opened, followed by verification of the ballots and the identification of the voter. On the contrary, casting a vote through an in-person ballot is a simpler and speedy process and thus, immediate results in terms of who is leading and who trails behind.

The Biden campaign is already bracing themselves up to witness Trump complain about unfair elections when there is a blue shift as the mail-in voting counting progresses.

Trump has repeatedly made unproven claims that mail voting leads to fraud even though voter fraud in a country like the U.S. is considered extremely rare.

Additionally, the POTUS has not yet revealed or said whether he would respect the decision of Americans if he loses. His repeated statements criticizing the mail voting has even compromised the confidence of the Republican voters.

“The longer it takes to count absentee ballots, the more the narrative will take hold among Trump supporters and will be their ‘proof’ to question unfavorable election results,” said Dennis Darnoi, a Michigan-based Republican strategist.

ballot box man
Ohio’s confusing ballot and election practices are causing some to ask if the election will be flawed. Above: A voter turns in an absentee ballot during the 2012 presidential election. REUTERS/Scott A. Miller

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