AP wants to reclaim 170-year-old authority from electproject with "undervotes" reported by stringers with eyes on county clerks.
Millions of mail ballots not yet returned in key states, 28 Oct

At least 35 million mail ballots had been returned or accepted as of early Wednesday, according to data collected by The Associated Press. That surpasses the 33.3 million total mail ballots returned during the 2016 election, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

versus 51,246,523 + walk-ins

For a number of reasons, past absentee ballot volume isn't a useful benchmark of "turnout". AP is not the only news publisher with difficulty adjusting to this multi-modal, disease-ridden, 40-day+ "Election Day".