You really nailed it. They were hoping for a blowout. That way they could say "The country rejected Trump and now we can all come together"

Instead the deplorables came out in full force. They were caught flat footed. They were prepared to cheat, but not by this much. That's why it looks so sloppy and obvious. Because the amount of cheating they thought they would have had to do, if they needed to cheat, was minimal and subtle. Instead, they needed massive cheating to put Biden over.