Editor’s note: MoCo360 reporters will be reporting live throughout Election Day. Check here for frequent updates on what’s happening at the polls. For information on the candidates and local races, check out our voters guide.
Updated at 9:37 p.m.: Election results are slow to come in Tuesday evening due to long lines at some Montgomery County precincts, according to elections officials. Montgomery County Board of Elections President David Naimon said Tuesday evening that there were still voters in line to vote after 9 p.m. at some precincts in Silver Spring.
According to state law, a voter in line at a polling place before 8:00 p.m. maintains the right to vote.
“Results will therefore be published after all voters who were timely in line have enjoyed the opportunity to vote,” Naimon said in an email.
The state elections board determines when a county board can release its results. As of 9:30 p.m., 58 of 257 Montgomery County precincts had reported.
Harris projected to win in Maryland
Updated at 8:35: Within minutes of polls closing in Maryland, The Washington Post and NBC News reported that Vice President Kamala Harris (D) is expected to win in Maryland, defeating opponent Donald Trump (R).
As of 8:34 p.m., no results about the presidential race were available on the State Board of Elections website.
— Staff
Don’t wait to vote, county elections board chief says
Updated at 5:15 p.m.: Voters should try to make sure they’re in line at a polling place or have turned in their mail-in ballots by 7:30 p.m. Tuesday so they don’t miss the opportunity to have their votes counted, Montgomery County Board of Elections President David Naimon told MoCo360 Tuesday afternoon.
While polls are open and ballots can be dropped off or postmarked until 8 p.m., ballots can’t be accepted even a minute late, so it’s advisable to factor in some buffer time, said Naimon, who was working at the Rosemont Elementary School precinct in Gaithersburg.
“You could run into traffic, you could run into parking problems, you could run out of gas. There’s any number of things that can happen,” Naimon said. “If you are a minute late for any of our methods of voting, you could be out of luck.”
He encouraged voters who have yet to turn in their mail-in ballot to use a dropbox. However, if voters want to go to a U.S. Postal Service office, Naimon encouraged them to go inside and watch a postal worker stamp their ballots to ensure they are postmarked in time.
“We get hundreds of ballots every election that are postmarked one day too late, and it is very frustrating to us, but we are required to reject them,” Naimon said.
You can find a list of dropbox sites on the Board of Elections website, or find the closest one to your location by texting BOX plus your ZIP code (example: BOX 20879) to 77788.
Naimon said hours-long lines experienced at polling centers such as the Silver Spring Civic Center in Veterans Plaza are likely due to confusion over the difference between early voting center locations and Election Day precincts.
While voters could cast a ballot at any early voting center from Oct. 24-31, they must vote at their assigned precinct on Election Day. You can check where you should vote on the state elections board website.
“We try our best to use buildings for Election Day that are not the same buildings as the buildings for early voting, but we also have legal constraints as to where Election Day polling places can be in terms of how close they are to the precinct,” Naimon said. “We know that that’s confusing to some of our voters, so we repeat frequently that Election Day is different.”
Voters won’t be turned away if they go to the wrong precinct, but they will be encouraged to return to the correct one. If they vote at the wrong precinct, they will have to fill out a provisional ballot in order to verify their identity and ensure they didn’t vote more than once. This can delay the process, Naimon said.
“Provisional ballots slow down the voter, they slow down the staff, they slow down the lines, and they slow down the results,” Naimon said.
–Ginny Bixby
Candidates, activists visit polling places as turnout remains steady
Updated at 4:25 p.m.: County school board candidate Laura Stewart was handing out campaign literature at Gaithersburg High School on Tuesday afternoon, alongside members of the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which endorsed her.
Stewart told MoCo360 she’d been talking to voters all over the county Tuesday morning and afternoon. She is running against incumbent school board member Shebra Evans for the District 4 seat.
“I’ve heard a lot about special education, and some people in the Bethesda area are afraid their kids are going to be bused a long way … . It’s bad for the environment, and it’s also not great for kids,” Stewart said. “Teachers talked to me who are really stressed out and we agree that we really need more paraeducators to support them. A lot of people also were concerned about book banning, and I made it clear I am against banning books.”
Stewart said she expects it will be a tight race between her and Evans, which is why it was important for her to talk to voters on Election Day.
“I’m making sure that I get my vote out and people know what I’m for,” Stewart said. “I expect it will be very close to 50/50.”
Reardon Sullivan, a former Montgomery County Republican party chair and unsuccessful 2022 GOP county executive nominee, was also at Gaithersburg High School stumping for the ballot referendum he backed that would limit the county executive to serving two consecutive terms instead of three.
“People are really taking to the idea of term limits … two terms for the governor, two terms for the president, it just makes sense,” Sullivan told MoCo360. “I’m really feeling good about it.”
Sullivan said he’d also been all over the county Tuesday to talk to voters.
“The ability to go out and be part of the process … I’m just glad that we can do that,” Sullivan said.
Meanwhile, long waits to vote continued Tuesday afternoon at the Silver Spring Civic Center, where some voters leaving the polls said they had waited as long as two hours to cast their ballots.
In Rockville, voters in Rockville trickled into the polls at Earl B. Woods Middle School. Just three candidate campaign signs were stuck in ground outside the school, touting Republican Cheryl Riley, who’s running against Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) in the District 8 congressional race; former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who’s vying for a U.S. Senate seat against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks and GOP-backed county school board candidate Brenda Diaz.
Voter Brandon Davenport, 30, said he voted for Alsobrooks despite also choosing Republican Donald Trump for president.
“I just think Maryland runs better blue just in the state level because of how our customs and society work,” he said, noting that he thinks Trump would be better than his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, at fixing national issues such as the economy and immigration.
Davenport also noted that he supported a ballot measure calling for the county executive to be limited to two consecutive terms instead of three.
“I think that big politicians should be working for us and so with the shorter term limit, I think it’s more valuable for them to constantly keep on with our approval,” Davenport said.
Rockville voter Pamela Goetz, 68, also supported term limits but did not delve into the details about why. For this election, Goetz said she mainly focused on the presidential candidates.
As she walked to the polls Tuesday, Goetz said she played soothing music in her headphones to make the experience more calming.
“All elections are important but this seems pretty important because what the Constitution is based on, what the rule of law is, it really … seems to be up for grabs,” she told MoCo360.
For Goetz the most important issues for her in this election were women’s rights and healthcare, maintaining foreign relationships and the character of the candidates
“I find it alarming that people will support somebody who abuses women, brags about it, and makes fun of people with disabilities. I find that reprehensible, and I think that a leader needs to be a leader who has ethics and humane values,” Goetz said.
–Ginny Bixby
Turnout slows, lines moving more quickly in Bethesda, Takoma Park
Updated at 3:35 p.m.: The afternoon seems to be heading into a lull for voting precincts, as campaign volunteers and voters in Bethesda reported lower afternoon turnout and lines that moved more quickly.
For Bethesda residents Hunter Rich, 25, and Sarah Ricker, 26, the voting process was quick and easy. The biggest issues in this election for the pair? All of them, they said.
“It feels like we’re making the choice whether we step through the next door of progress or we decide to throw all that progress away,” Rich said. “It all kind of feels like it comes down to this.”
The two took a break from work to vote at Bethesda Elementary School around 2:30 p.m., where supporters for Democrats and Republicans alike sat outside handing out flyers to voters.
One of those campaign volunteers, Bethesda resident Elizabeth Brody, handed out campaign literature for former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who is running against Angela Alsobrooks (D) for the U.S Senate.
Brody said she believed Hogan was moderate in his position on issues and would be able to decrease divisiveness and bring people together with moderate policies.
“I so greatly appreciate being a U.S. citizen and the freedoms we have in this country,” Brody said. “Every single person in the United States should be registered and should be voting.”
Former Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh was also at Bethesda Elementary. Instead of traveling to precincts like he did when he served in the Maryland General Assembly, Frosh said he came to hand out flyers for the Maryland Democratic Party.
Democracy was on the line in this election, Frosh said, noting that Hogan joined former Republican President Donald Trump on the ballot.
“I was attorney general the entire time [Hogan] was governor. He was a terrible governor. I mean, he was unable to manage, he was unwilling to take positions on difficulty issues,” Frosh said.
Outside of Takoma Park Middle School around 1 p.m., voters milled in and out of the school’s front entrance, which was festooned with campaign signs, people distributing literature about the county school board race apple ballots and canvassers for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks.
The line to vote moved steadily. As voters exited the school’s cafeteria, students from two competing bake sales thanked voters for casting their ballots. One benefited Silver Spring International Middle School, which was raising funds for a New York trip, the other went toward the Takoma Park Middle School PTSA.
As she exited the polls, Brittany Wilson, 30, a Takoma Park resident who grew up in Damascus, told MoCo360 that this election was not just important for choosing next the president but also for Maryland’s Senate race, which Alsobrooks is facing former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
“If we ever want to try to [repair] four years of damage from 2016 to 2020, then we need the Senate. Alsobrooks and Hogan is a pretty battleground race,” she said.
When it came to the six candidates running for three seats in the county school board race, Wilson said that despite not having children she did her research and noted her support for Lynne Harris, who is running for an at-large seat.
Wilson said she likes that Harris is focused on limiting the county school system’s carbon footprint. “So if we can reduce our carbon admissions, I think that’d be a great step towards giving the children that come through that school system a planet to live on,” Wilson said.
Two other voters, Mary Grace, a 35-year Takoma Park resident, and Glenda Roberts, a 13-year resident, expressed hope for unity.
For Roberts, a “climate of civility” is important. “Working together and understanding that while we may look different on the outside, on the inside, we’re the same. Same blood, same color, breathe the same air.” she said.
Grace noted how “things are so crazy” and believes that regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, the country will be “divided.”
“While one candidate is definitely crazy, I think that there’s a real problem in the country,” Grace said. “I don’t think people are recognizing why that candidate – [Donald Trump] – I don’t think people recognize why he’s so popular.”
Dylan Lee, 29, who moved to Takoma Park from Chicago two years ago, told MoCo360 that the most important issues for him are housing costs and the economy.
“I’m hoping to see it be easier for younger people to get into housing and starting families … you know, less afraid of making steps like that,” Lee said. “I think a lot of younger people are in a weird position where they don’t really know whether or not it’s a good time” to start a family.
Lee, who cast his ballot just before 12:30 p.m., said he waited about 30 minutes to do so and that the process was shorter than he expected.
–Elia Griffin and Ashlyn Campbell
MCDOT suspends metered parking fee at polling places
Updated at 2:05 p.m.: The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) suspended metered parking at polling places on Tuesday after voters issued complaints to County Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1).
“We got some complaints and concerns from residents, voters and volunteers expressing concerns that there was enforcement going on at the Connie Morella Library [in Bethesda],” Friedson told MoCo360 in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “I raised the issue with MCDOT and they responded extremely quickly.”
Metered parking was suspended at both the Connie Morella Library and Silver Spring Civic Center, so voters will not have to pay to park to cast their ballots. However, the law still applies –- voters cannot leave their cars standing in no parking areas, Friedson said.
“[Metered parking] is an impediment, potentially, for some voters that has been lifted,” Friedson said. “I am very grateful to MCDOT for addressing this.”
—Ginny Bixby
‘Healthy lines’ at B-CC High in Bethesda
Updated at 1:44 p.m.: At Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, there were “healthy lines,” but the entire experience took about 10 minutes for Bethesda residents Nicole Gasmen, 31, and Owen Phelps, 32, who came to vote around 1 p.m.
Gasmen and Phelps agreed the single biggest issue in this election was “keeping the vitality of American democracy strong.”
Phelps said: “It’s a privilege in a way, because there’s plenty of countries where you simply can’t have any say whatsoever in terms of who you’re governed by. I very much would like to keep America exceptional in that way.”
With a day off work, the two decided to cast their ballots, and said they were very pleased with their polling location.
“It’s amazing that [poll workers are] here doing this on their own volition,” Phelps said. “And they should be respected as such.”
David Stein, president of the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), was handing out “apple ballots,” which are fliers listing the MCEA’s endorsements, at B-CC around 1 p.m., and said there was heavy turnout, which encouraged him.
“It’s good for democracy,” Stein said. “I think Montgomery County … is going to go really heavy for the apple ballot.”
— Ashlyn Campbell
Long waits to vote persist at Silver Spring Civic Center
Updated at 12:50 p.m.: In Downtown Silver Spring around noon, the line to vote continued to stretch out of the door of the county polling place at the Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza.
Several voters told MoCo360 that they waited in line for three to four hours before voting. University of Maryland students conducting exit polling said they heard from voters as they left the polls that they had waited for three hours.
David Naimon, president of the Montgomery County Board of Elections, said early Tuesday afternoon that a number of voters have been showing up at the wrong precincts. Voters can check where to vote on the state elections board website.
— Ashlyn Campbell and Ginny Bixby
Moore lends support to McClain Delaney in Clarksburg
Updated at 11:05 a.m.: Gov. Wes Moore (D) spoke to voters Tuesday morning and lend support to April McClain Delaney, the Democratic nominee in the tight race for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District at the polls at Clarksburg High School.
“The energy is amazing here, and we are excited because we are going to make April [McClain Delaney] the next congressperson from the 6th District,” Moore said while filming a video for prospective voters. “She is ready and so is the district and so is our state.”
McClain Delaney is running against Republican nominee and former Maryland General Assembly member Neil Parrott. The geographic makeup of the district makes the race more competitive than others across the state as it includes majority-Democratic Montgomery County as well as more conservative-leaning counties. It is being closely watched as a race that could help determine which party controls the House of Representatives.
While the lines to vote were short earlier Tuesday, long lines formed as voters gathered to take selfies with Moore, who talked with each voter who approached him, including some Republican canvassers. He and McClain Delaney also took time to talk to a group of Clarksburg High theater students who were hosting a bake sale to fundraise for their upcoming performance of Much Ado About Nothing.
McClain Delaney then journeyed just a few minutes away to speak to voters at Hallie Wells Middle School in Clarksburg. She told MoCo360 in an interview that over the past several days, she’s spoken to several undecided voters, including many first-time voters.
“During early voting, I was at [a polling center] in Germantown, and I’d say almost a third of them were undecided … a lot of them were first-generation voters,” McClain Delaney said. “I talked to them about being a mom of four daughters … my work on mental health for our kids and more resources. I talked about affordability and infrastructure. And I got a very, very good response.”
Recent polls have predicted the race between McClain Delaney and Parrott could be too close to call. McClain Delaney said that’s why she planned to continue to meet with voters across the district all day on Tuesday. Parrott was expected to spend the day in Frederick County, according to his campaign staff.
“This is a very close election. There are only a couple of districts across this country that are really battleground districts that could sway either way,” McClain Delaney said. “But I do think a lot of people do want to turn the page on the vitriol, the division, the anger.”
Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) was supporting McClain Delaney by speaking to voters at Hallie Wells Middle. Lierman was also canvassing for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic U.S. Senate nominee and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who is running against former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
“What I’ve been hearing the most from voters in Maryland is excitement about who they have the opportunity to vote for. People are excited about our Democratic candidates,” Lierman told MoCo360 in an interview. “They’re ready to move on, to go forward and not to go backwards.”
— Ginny Bixby
Voters head to the polls; Raskin is in Silver Spring
Updated at 10:40 a.m.: With Election Day dawning clear and sunny, voters cast their ballots at the polls across Montgomery County as Gov. Wes Moore (D) headed to Clarksburg to stump for April McClain Delaney of Potomac, the Democratic candidate facing off against Republican Neil Parrott of Hagerstown in the 6th District Congressional race.
In downtown Silver Spring, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D), who is running for re-election in the 8th District, and other candidates on Tuesday’s ballot greeted voters at the Silver Spring Civic Center in downtown Silver Spring.
Raskin, who’s facing challenger Cheryl Riley in this election, arrived at the Civic Building around 10:00 a.m., as the line for voting snaked outside the door, taking photos with voters and other local elected officials.
Raskin said the large turnout felt like “democracy in action.” As he’s talked to voters in the lead up to the election, he said he’s noticed a focus on topics such as climate change, income inequality and abortion rights, but defense of democracy has been at the top of the list.
“We have an extremely politically savvy and engaged population here,” Raskin said. “If we don’t have strong democratic institutions with real political leadership, we can’t get anything done … We’re moving forward, and we’re going to be improving democracy.”
At Burnt Mills Elementary School in Silver Spring around 8:45 a.m., Sarah Jacobs and Briggs Rolfsrud, parents of Burnt Mills students and coaches for the girl’s empowerment group Girls on the Run, stood outside with their students holding a bake sale raising money for a local animal shelter.
Both said a steady stream of voters had arrived since the polls opened.
“It’s important for us to be here with our kids not only to raise money for the animal shelter, but to show them democracy in action,” Jacobs said.
At the Silver Spring Civic Center voting precinct at around 9:30 a.m., a long line formed inside, potentially taking one to two hours, according to election volunteers.
Monica Gody, 56, and Eddie Chavez, 55, both Silver Spring residents, said it was a long wait.
“We live here in the area, like across the street, I’ve been seeing the whole week, a long line, which to me, it’s amazing,” Gody said of last week’s early voting period. “Finally, people decided to go and vote.”
Gody said she was hoping to see Kamala Harris (D) defeat Donald Trump (R) to become president, especially since she’s a woman and the daughter of immigrants. Gody and Chavez are immigrants themselves.
“We need change,” Gody said. “Because the other way, we’re going back to the same, or worse.”
Carol Mulholland, a Washington, D.C., resident and electioneering volunteer for the Democratic Party, said volunteering helped relieve her anxiety about the election overall. Without a representative in Congress in her home district, she said she came out to the Silver Spring Civic Center precinct to volunteer.
Mulholland began volunteering when the polls opened at 7 a.m., and said from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., she’s seen a very steady turnout.
— Ashlyn Campbell
