United States | The postmaster always rings twice

More mail-in voting doubles the chances of recounts in close states

We ran 100,000 simulations to quantify this effect

|WASHINGTON, DC

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY goes into its virtual convention next week in a mess. According to The Economist’s election model, the president is trailing by nine points in the popular vote and is currently expected to end up roughly 70 electoral votes shy of the 270-vote threshold on polling day. But has Donald Trump found a way to stack the deck in his favour? A large number of Americans will cast votes by post between now and November. And the US Postal Service, which has to deliver those votes, is in the midst of a partisan fight.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The postmaster always rings twice”

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