It's happening the way it's supposed to happen. Voters are voting -- smashing records, adjusting behaviors and recalibrating expectations -- in ways that show the nation is many things, but definitely not apathetic.

It's also happening in ways that will stress the systems built to account for it all. More early votes, oddly, will mean reporting out results will take longer in several critical states -- to say nothing of the continuing challenges of participating in and administering an election in the midst of a pandemic.

Amid a flurry of COVID-era campaigning in battleground states, this week brought new high-water marks that suggest turnout records will fall this year.

Nearly as many Texans have voted as in all of 2016, with Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona are among the states already three-quarters of the way there, according to the United States Elections Project at the University of Florida.

But this week also brought continued uncertainties about the process of voting. The Supreme Court now has nine justices again, and voters in states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina have a right to be confused about what the law is when it comes to how to vote -- and even what those laws might be on Election Day and beyond.

Layered on top of all of that are the efforts by President Trump to sow doubts about the integrity of the election.

From the local level on up, election officials say they're confident that there will be an accurate -- and, hopefully, promptly tallied -- vote count. But the surge of voting, while good for democracy, figures to make everything more difficult during this most difficult of times for the country.

-ABC News’ Political Director Rick Klein

Harris’ first stop in Texas was Fort Worth, where she gave remarks to a socially distanced and masked crowd of about 300 supporters outside of First St. John’s Cathedral -- her presence in the state significant as she’s the first Democrat vice presidential candidate to campaign there since 1988.

After the state shattered its 2016 voting record this morning, Harris praised the more than nine million votes already cast in Texas -- but reminded the race isn’t over yet. 

“Today is the last day of early voting in Texas and you all have been doing your thing! What did I hear? Was it 9 million people have voted so far?" Harris said. "Now, we know this is no time to let up on the pedal though, right?"

Urging Texans to vote whether early or on Election Day, she repeated her mantra that voting is one of the best ways to “honor the ancestors,” paying special tribute to the late Congressman John Lewis. 

“John Lewis lived a life that was about a commitment to fighting for equal rights and civil rights, and it was fight that was born out of being a patriot and loving our country,” she said. “Knowing the best way we achieve our ideals, is to fight for those ideals, to do it in every way by standing up, showing up and speaking up -- so we must vote to honor the ancestors.”

Though winning the state’s 29 electoral college votes is a longshot for the party, some Democrats sense an opportunity to snatch the GOP-stronghold for the first time in more than four decades, while others warn the campaign should stay focused on states Clinton narrowly lost in 2016.

“You are strong, you have power, and at election time, that power will be through your vote. And you will tell them when they ask that you elected Joe Biden the President of the United States,” Harris said closing her remarks. “Thank you Fort Worth, and God bless Texas.”

-ABC News’ Averi Harper