Some might wonder why early results lean towards a party and then shift decisively over time. The mistake comes when one assumes that results are about the same everywhere in a state, regardless of voting method. For the Washington Post, Bonnie Berkowitz, Szu Yu Chen, and Mark Berman illustrate what’s happening through the lens of the 2020 election.
In short, suburban counties usually get their counts in first, and they tend towards Republican. City centers and mail-in ballots come in later, and they tend towards Democrat.
