Absurdly and inexcusably, votes are still being counted even though polls closed more than a month ago, on Nov. 5. You’d think a developed country such as ours, which sees itself as a beacon of democracy, could get Election Day right. But, no, we make a hash of it every time. We’ve escaped chaos now only because the result was so decisive as to be indisputable.

Democrat-run states, where incompetence is the leitmotif of government, count more slowly than others, which means Donald Trump’s popular vote margin has gradually been whittled down over the past four weeks to just below 50%. But he still won 2.5 million more votes than did his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.