i'm curious if this phenomenon has existed during previous elections. for example, is this a normal event when compared to previous elections or is this type of activity indeed suspicious.

from the article you linked:

> The one thing the time-trend line should never do is drop, which would mean that votes are disappearing from Trump's tally.

> That's exactly what happened. In at least 15 counties, according to the Epoch Times story, Trump lost in-person votes, while he lost absentee votes in three other countries. The total result was staggering:

> At least 432,116 votes — 213,707 election day votes and 218,409 absentee votes — were removed in total.