I asked this before on another thread but I'm going to ask it again here. When do they factor in early and absentee votes, which I understand, account for a far greater number this year than they have in the past?
Depends on the state.
In New York, they only counted the absentee ballots if the race was close and the margin of victory was smaller than the number of said absentee ballots.
I don't know how they do it in states with "early voting".