Last week’s election defied expectations. Unprecedented, idiosyncratic state-specific patterns seemed to emerge instead, with Republicans doing well in Florida and New York, Democrats doing well in the Midwest, and election nail-biters unfolding in Arizona and Nevada. But perhaps the most important surprise of this election was how normal it was. None of the apocalyptic predictions about violence, suppression or fraud seemed to have materialized. We witnessed a successful process run by professionals working under incredibly difficult circumstances.

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