This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.
This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.
Just over 2 million ballots had been cast in Maryland by Sunday morning, according to data from the State Board of Elections, meaning roughly half of the state’s 4.1 million electorate has voted so far.
A total of 780,635 Marylanders had voted early after polls closed on Saturday night, according to state data. Combined with the 1,234,806 mail-in ballots returned to local boards of elections so far, 2.015 million ballots have been cast in the state so far.
And by 4 p.m. Sunday, state election officials reported that an additional 55,839 early votes had come in. That would mean that more than half of Maryland’s 4.1 million eligible active voters have cast their ballots so far, without even including provisional ballots.
In 2016, there were 876,843 early votes cast in the state. With more than 830,000 early votes cast by 4 p.m. on Sunday, and with an entire day of early voting left until Election Day, it’s possible that 2020’s early voting count will eclipse early voting in the 2016 presidential election.
Although Marylanders have turned out in record-breaking numbers to vote early, Saturday saw a significant drop in the amount of ballots cast at early voting centers. Not including provisional ballots, 70,707 Marylanders turned out to vote early on Saturday. By comparison, more than 152,000 turned out on the first day of early voting – not including provisional ballots.
With provisional ballots included, more than 161,000 turned out to the polls on the first day of early voting. That broke a single-day early voting turnout record in the state, according to election officials.
Montgomery County election officials put out calls for more voters on social media Sunday, reporting that there were “zero lines and zero wait” at the Praisner Community Recreation Center in Burtonsville.
Monday is the final day of early voting in Maryland. The state’s 81 early voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
There will be more than 300 in-person voting centers open throughout Maryland on Tuesday, Election Day. The centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters can report to any voting center in the county where they live.
