Election Day 2020: More Than 473K Cast Ballots On Election Day In Maryland
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- More than 473,000 Marylanders went to the polls on Election Day to vote. This is in addition to the more than two million people who cast their ballots early or via mail-in ballots.
Tuesday marked the final opportunity for Marylanders to weigh in on races from the local level to the White House.
More than 300 voting centers were open statewide, though anyone in line by 8 p.m. are allowed to cast their ballots. Lines may look long due to social distancing guidelines, deputy state elections administrator Nikki Charlson said.
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The Maryland State Board of Elections said over 473,000 people cast their ballots as of 8 p.m., but are still waiting to count the voters who are currently in line.
Tuesday was also the last day to return a mail-in ballot. While ballots could be sent by mail as long as they are postmarked by Tuesday, the State Board of Elections recommends voters take them to any official ballot drop-off box in their county -- or any box in Baltimore for city residents.
NEW TIME-LAPSE: The line to vote in Southeast Baltimore at 4:35 pm—even longer than earlier. Lots of enthusiasm! #VOTE @wjz #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/JMrCLBz2fK
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) November 3, 2020
As of 6:30 p.m., 427,004 people had cast their ballots statewide on Tuesday.
During a 4 p.m. update with reporters, Charlson said Election Day turnout has been low, but comparing this election to previous years is difficult because "we've never had an election where 1.6 million people have asked for mail-in ballots."
As of 6 p.m., Baltimore City reported 28,528 people had voted Tuesday, while in 55,776 have voted in Baltimore County as of 6 p.m.
6 pm total 28,528
— Baltimore City Elections (@Bmore_Elections) November 3, 2020
2 hours to go. Lets go Baltimore. pic.twitter.com/Pnp7mSHcjh
One voting center at Northwestern High School in Prince George's County opened 30 minutes late but no other notable issues have been reported, Charlson said.
Around 56% of Maryland's voters cast their ballots ahead of Election Day, she said. Preliminary numbers show more than 993,000 Marylanders voted during early in-person voting and 1.3 million have returned mail-in ballots.
That's over 2.2 million voters going into Election Day.
During the eight-day early in-person voting period, more than 12,000 Marylanders registered the same day at the polls.
"That's a big number for us," Charlson said.
KEY RACES & QUESTION
- U.S. President - National
- U.S. President - Maryland
- Baltimore Mayoral Race
- Maryland's 7th Congressional District
- Question 2: Sports Betting
Results from early voting and mail-in ballots counted up to Election Day are being released after 8 p.m., the elections board said. In-person votes from Election Day will be released "in subsequent hours on Election Night."
See full election results here.