What are the 'red mirage' and 'blue shift' phenomena on US election night?

The 'red mirage' or 'blue shift' is a new phenomenon that has occurred in recent US elections, when the initial advantage of the Republican Party was erased when mail-in ballots were counted.

According to CNN, the "red mirage" phenomenon (red is the color representing the Republican Party) occurred when the first election results were announced, showing that the party's candidate was leading.

According to the Brookings Institution, many states typically count in-person ballots on Election Day first, followed by early, mail-in and absentee ballots.

Typically, voters in small, rural areas vote in person on election day, and this group tends to support Mr. Trump and Republican candidates.

The red mirage phenomenon then occurs when these ballots are counted first.

Election workers process mail-in ballots in California on October 29.

However, this result is said to be just an illusion and will be erased when the number of mail-in and absentee ballots begins to be counted. This is called the "blue shift" (the color of the Democratic Party).

Absentee and mail-in ballots tend to come from densely populated, urban areas that tend to lean Democratic, so when they are counted, they can cause a blue shift and flip the outcome from “red” to “blue” in some states.

In 2020, this phenomenon occurred in places with slow vote counts such as California, a traditionally Democratic state where most voters cast their ballots by mail. In Georgia that year, the initial vote count showed a tie between the two candidates, but it was not until a small number of votes were counted on the morning of November 6, three days after Election Day, that Mr. Biden took the lead.

Early voting or voting by mail has become increasingly popular after each election, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Regulations for processing mail-in ballots vary from state to state. Some only allow processing on election day, leading to delays in counting votes.

That year, states like Georgia and Michigan flipped from red to blue on the results map as more votes were counted, leading former President Donald Trump and his allies to make baseless allegations of fraud, according to Axios .

As in 2020, many battleground states like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have warned this year that counting absentee and mail-in ballots could drag on beyond Election Day.

Mr Trump and his allies have repeatedly refused to say whether they will accept the results of this year's election.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hien-tuong-ao-anh-do-va-dich-chuyen-xanh-vao-dem-bau-cu-my-la-gi-185241105213150451.htm