Since early voters are more Democratic versus absentees, I did a little digging. It does look like that your historical numbers are for absentees only, making this a true apples-to-apples comparison.
So, yes, it looks like it really is that good of news as it does appear. Keep up the good work.
WaPo blog confirms, and says that “Dems usually vote higher in absentee and early voting” (they mean “early voting”) but they also say it’s going to be higher than in 08. Well, yes-—but not early voting, ABSENTEE voting will be higher, I think, and that will greatly benefit us.