As early Election Day results come in on Tuesday, it will likely appear that a Republican candidates vying for any number of the federal or statewide races appear to be leading their Democratic opponents, even by large margins.
Their leads will dwindle, or crumble completely, after perceived "dumps" of votes are recorded by state election officials who count mail-in and absentee ballots in the days -- or even weeks -- following Election Day.
This phenomenon was popularized as the "red mirage" or the "blue shift" after the 2020 presidential election, when former President Donald Trump took a deceptive lead in several competitive states on Election Day due to delays in counting of Democrats' mail-in ballots -- their preferred method of voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- only to eventually dissipate when the entire reserve of votes was totaled.
The illusion was a principal component of Trump and his allies' false claims that the contest was fraudulent upon his ultimate loss to Joe Biden.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/early-election-night-results-final-tallies/story?id=92762835--------------
That's right, we're telling you up front to your face that we're gonna cheat. Whaddaya gonna do about it?
