Wearing a red beret, the first voter lined up at Eastern Market (225 Seventh St. SE) at 6:30 a.m. to cast the first vote when the polls opened at 7 o’clock. Election workers said that as of 10:44 a.m, 175 people had cast their votes in-person at that polling place alone.
Efforts to address the pandemic were apparent everywhere, from the socially-distanced voting machines and markers indicating appropriate distance on the floor to tables where piles of sanitized pens were indicated for voters to use at registration.
I’ve checked a few vote centers & heard from others; no significant wait times at most places this morning. That’s not because people aren’t showing up for the most important election of our lives, its that a lot of people ALREADY showed up! Make voting easier & people will vote!
— Charles Allen (@charlesallen) November 3, 2020
An early glitch with the ballot scanning machine caused a delay of about 30 minutes at the Eastern Market poll, said workers on site, but it was quickly addressed. Throughout the rest of the morning, voters walked right in to vote, with multiple registration clerks ready to assist.
DCBOE was not monitoring wait times on Election day, but reports indicated this was the case at multiple polling places Tuesday morning, including the Super Vote Centers at Nationals Park and Capitol One Arena.
Wait times were significantly reduced due to high early voting numbers. By Election Day, more than 280,000 District voters had already cast their votes.
Voters may vote until 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3 at any one of the DC polls. If you are not yet registered, you can do so the at the polling place the same day that you vote. You can drop off mail-in ballots at ballot boxes until 8 p.m. Ballots mailed via USPS boxes must be postmarked Nov. 3 and received by Nov. 13.
DCBOE has until Nov. 24 to certify results.
Learn more about the General Election, see the full list of polling places and rules for same-day voter registration by visiting www.dcboe.org
