Sounds like NYT is just trying to make the case of “that’s the normal error you get when.....”
The error would be down to near zero if all the ballot signatures were compared against the registered voters’ signatures. There’s a reason why Soros funded a crapload of Secretaries of State across the country.
It sounds to me like they’re saying the “normal error” is undercounting votes. They basically are countering conservatives who say that vote by mail adds fake ballots. The NYT is saying, “uh-uh, vote by mail is disenfranchising by removing ballots”.