Election 2020: DC, Maryland, Virginia voters take to the polls in person

November 3, 2020
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The 2020 election season has likely been the longest and strangest in a lifetime. But after an unprecedented number of ballots have been dropped into drop boxes and mailboxes, more voters will take to the polls in D.C., Maryland and Virginia on Tuesday.

Voting sites are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the District and Maryland, and 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Virginia. As always, if you’re in line when the polls close, you’ll get to vote.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has made this election like no other in a long time, and an unprecedented number of ballots across the area have already been cast by mail or by being deposited in a drop box.

Reporting before dawn in Prince William County, Virginia, WTOP’s Neal Augenstein, notes there are multiple ways to cast your vote on Tuesday: via a drop box in the parking lot; by standing in line and voting indoors as in past elections; or even curbside voting, where you can remain in your car and watch a poll worker scan your vote.

In D.C., WTOP’s Melissa Howell is on site at Capital One Arena, which on Election Day 2016 played host to a Washington Capitals game. This year, due to the pandemic, its concourses are being used as a voting center.

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Where can I vote?

In Virginia, Maryland and the District, you can still put your ballot in the mail, as long as it’s postmarked Tuesday, but elections officials in all three jurisdictions warn that, the way the U.S. Postal Service has been running lately, your ballot may not arrive in time to be counted. They suggest dropping your completed absentee ballot in a drop box or voting in person at a voting center. In all three jurisdictions, you can vote at whatever vote center or drop box is most convenient to you; the old precinct system is not in effect.

In D.C., you can drop off your ballots at about 50 drop boxes, and in-person vote centers are open on Election Day until 8 p.m.

A woman drops her ballot off in Northeast D.C. in October. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)

In Maryland, there are 284 drop boxes, and 350 Election Day vote centers.

And in Virginia, each locality is running its own drop-box/voting site locations, our state voter guide has all the locations listed in the story.

D.C. and Maryland have same-day voter registration. (In Virginia, better luck next year.)

Find out what you need to bring with you in the District and what you need to bring in Maryland.

In Virginia, you need to bring an ID to the polls. Acceptable documents include a Virginia driver’s license, a U.S. Passport, voter confirmation documents you received in the mail, and more.

Making it count

This election season arguably began when Maryland Rep. John Delaney announced his candidacy for president July 28, 2017. And while it’s tempting to say that it’ll all be over Tuesday night, the reality is the counting will continue after that.

Absentee ballots in Maryland have been counted since the beginning of October, and numbers may be available relatively soon on Tuesday night. In Virginia, ballots have been getting processed all along, and those that are ready will be counted before 11 p.m. But in all three jurisdictions, ballots can be postmarked Tuesday, which means they won’t arrive to be counted until days later.

Election officials in D.C., Maryland and Virginia have all emphasized: The count will not be final for weeks, and it has always been this way.

What’s on the ballot?

The presidential race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden is at the top of the ticket, but all seats in the U.S. House and one U.S. Senate seat from Virginia are also up for grabs, as well as a host of local races and bond issues.

See what’s at stake with our voter guides.

 

WTOP’s Will Vitka and Jack Moore contributed to this report.

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