With mail in ballots Smith will get more votes than there are people in that district. And if need be they’ll be pouring in for weeks after they count up Garcia’s ballots.
The ballots returned so far seem to favor Garcia. As of this week, 32 percent of registered Republicans, 20 percent of registered Democrats and 15 percent of registered independents had voted, according to Mitchell’s data.
Democrats are setting expectations low for the special election, citing the historically low turnout by their voters in these one-off contests, and setting their sights on November when the presidency will be decided.