This is totally fine and normal, good citizen. 2+2=5.

The title of this story is this:

Early election night results might not indicate final tallies (and why that's OK)

And super-totally-non-partisan ABC says we'll see a "red mirage" instead of a red wave.

Mhmm.

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.

Even weeks, dear comrade! It could take weeks for election officials to count the ballots!

Don't believe in the red mirage!! Trust the Ministry of Truth!

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.

See, now when you doubt election integrity, it's just a "phenomenon." It can merely be written off as a false claim due to that orange guy.

If you're concerned about the pushback on voter ID, the expansion of mail-in ballots, the videos of people gathering mass dumps of mail-in ballots from nursing homes, or the fact that it takes weeks with modern technology to count ballots that Betsy Ross could have counted by hand in a day, then you're not a good citizen!

All signs point to the fact that it's going to be extreme in certain critical states again, and Pennsylvania top among them," Lawrence Norden, senior director of the Brennan Center's Elections & Government Program said, noting that certain candidates may claim false victories or legally attempt to stop or slow vote counts.

"I am very worried. I'm very worried that election denial forces are much more organized than they were in 2020."

Unlike those valiant heroes who doubted the 2016 election, amiright??

"I think it's important to make clear like nobody's winning or losing on Election Day. The votes are all in, for the most part, it's just a question of what states chose to count and when," Norden said.

That's right. No one wins on Election Day. I mean, it's not like it's called "Election Day."

It should be called "pre-Election Day," or "Election Day's Eve."

Maybe we should create a season like Advent or Lent where the actual day you vote kicks off the season and the authorities tell you who they picked – err, who you picked – sometime around December 25. We could even replace that old baby born in a manger with some festivities to Big Brother!

[Cornell Professor David Alexander] Bateman agreed: "Just as football games do not end at the first quarter, you play out the game and it ends when the game ends. And whoever's in the lead at the end of the game wins. It's the same with elections. An election does not end, and it has [n]ever ended on Election Day."

See? It's just like the first quarter of a pigskin game. You may think that, since all the votes have to be in by 8pm or so, that we'd have about 99% certainty in 99% of the races. But that's not the case. A Cornell professor wants you to know that 8pm is when the real game starts.

Sure, you cast your vote. You got your team a first down. But now it's up to the State to finish that game for you, dear citizen.

Of course, there is truth to the fact that more Democrats tend to mail in their ballots. This is a huge reason why Democrats are against ridiculously common sense voter ID – because more logistics variables and count delays and weeks of voting helps to slow down the clock on the "game."

In any country where you want people to stop doubting election results, you have to have quick ballot tabulation. Growing up, most of the tension and drama was over on Election Day. As a conservative, if a leftist won, I could shrug and go, "Oh well." I knew, even as a child, how the votes were counted and trusted that they were generally secure.

Do you feel like you know how things work now, or is it like you're watching someone try to explain the rules of a sport that's alien to you?

When complexity meets inefficiency, it breeds corruption. Change my mind.

I should also point out that the media and the Democrats (but I repeat myself) have told us for months that this election is a choice between Nazism and freedom.

If you thought that cheating would stop the Fourth Reich from rising to power, would you cheat?

I'll leave you with that thought.