I think the game the dems play is like this. It's kinda dependent on time zones because most of the centers of "power" are on the east coast and the mid west. How many of the "big" states are in those time zones?
So here's how I think it works. They delay the counts as long as they can with any excuse in order for all the other states to chime in on their counts. By doing that, they can then see just how far behind they are and know how many "votes" they need to "win."
So what ends up happening after they are "done" counting those east coast votes, low and behold, Trump (or whoever) missed it by thaaat much. So close yet so far.