I wasn’t aware they counted absentee votes unless they could make a difference. I think this is just ballots requested. In my state they don’t even identify general election absentee ballots by Republican or Democrat and they don’t COUNT and publicize them before the election.
>>I wasn’t aware they counted absentee votes unless they could make a difference. I think this is just ballots requested. In my state they don’t even identify general election absentee ballots by Republican or Democrat and they don’t COUNT and publicize them before the election.<<
About counting absentee ballots at all: I think that was only the case before early voting became so prevalent and even then I suspect most states counted them eventually to get a firm final total for each candidate.
However, I think many states now count them before the polls close on election day. Maybe you’ve noticed that on the closing of the polls, some precincts report large vote counts immediately. I think those are the early votes, already counted.
It would bother me to find out that clerks were opening the ballots and tallying them before election day, however, since that process would be wide open to fraudulent behavior, including tipping off people as to how the count was going, up to and including “losing” certain ballots and “discovering” others.
I think it depends on the state. I know in Virginia, the early ballots are opened & counted on Election Day just like normal votes.