Democrats have done an amazing job at getting out the vote for this election but Republicans are working hard to cheat and suppress the vote in a number of swing states that are critically important.  Let’s look at one item,  just the missing returned mail-in ballots on October 28 in six swing  states and examine the potential number of Biden votes lost compared to the potential  Trump votes lost in just two of the swing states...Michigan and Pennsylvania.  There are several reasons for missing returned ballots:  simply not returned by the voter, delayed or lost by the USPS because of Republican interference, or mailed too late to arrive by a state deadline.

Here are the unreturned mail-in vote totals to date for Michigan (853,825), Wisconsin (678,768), Pennsylvania (1,208,018), North Carolina (637,951), Arizona (1,526, 565) and Florida (2,093,656).  The total number of non-returned ballots to date in these six swing states is a huge number: 6,998,783.

Looking at the number of voters by party in Michigan and Pennsylvania we can approximate the number of votes being lost at the moment for Biden and Trump due to unreturned mail ballots in both states.  Similar calculations can be made for the other four states. Of course the numbers are expected to change in the next six days:  E.g., Before Nov3, additional ballots that are postmarked on time do arrive before the state’s deadline; voters elect to use ballot boxes or turn-in their mail-in ballots to polling stations;  voters go to the polls and vote in person.  This calculation shows the current numbers as of Oct 28:

Michigan:  The unreturned ballots represent 12% of all Michigan ballots.  47% of Michigan voters are registered Democrats.  34% of Michigan voters are registered Republicans.  If we assume that is how the unreturned ballots break we estimate that today there are 13% more lost Democratic (no vote) ballots than Republican.  That is approximately 110,000 more lost votes by Biden than Trump (a certain minimum because more Democrats asked for mail-in ballots).

Pennsylvania:  The unreturned ballots represent 13% of all Pennsylvania ballots.  46% of Pennsylvania voters are registered Democrats.  38% of Pennsylvania voters are registered Republicans.  If we assume that is how the unreturned ballots break we estimate that there are 8% more lost Democratic (no vote) ballots than Republican.  That is approximately 96,000 more lost votes by Biden than Trump (a certain minimum because more Democrats asked for mail-in ballots).

Trump announced months ago that he would again win the election, not by popular vote but by electoral college vote, and by targeted manipulation of several voting processes with the help of Republican legislatures, federally appointed judges and the Supreme Court.  He stated he was opposed to mail-in balloting because it was fraudulent (proven to be wrong by many sources)  and asked Republicans to vote in person. He then set out to destroy USPS processes and equipment to negatively impact the larger number of Democrat voters.  This was all announced a while ago when he appointed his crony incompetent Postmaster General.  He said he would make sure if he lost by vote, he would make sure the election would be thrown to the Supreme Court and he then stacked the Court with a 6-3 Republican advantage.

The Democrats might have been more proactive in circumventing  Trump's unethical and illegal practices.  While it was difficult for the Democrats to stop the recent Supreme Court appointment,   an all-out could have been made to make sure all the Democrat mail-in ballots were filled in, returned to the proper polling location and counted, even if in response to Trump's USPS meddling they had to request the use of the National Guard.  That did not happen and there are only a few days left.  Hopefully, a massive voter turnout will overcome the Trump-Republican illegal, unethical voter suppression tactics employed to try to reappoint Trump as President.

Right now, the Biden campaign needs to be creative in informing the public on how to get their vote submitted and counted and in setting up legal processes for ballot collection in the swing states.  They should spend donations and campaign funds immediately to make this happen. Examples: 1) expand automobile and in person ballot collection at polling places; 2) ask the governors to allow placement of more ballot boxes in their states and offer to pay for them;  3) make sure there are enough volunteers on Nov 3 that can collect mail-in ballots safely at polling places and legal collection locations; 4) maximize distribution of mail-in ballot submission processes by TV, Facebook, Twitter,  other social media outlets, local newspapers and radio networks.

Do it now!