WASHINGTON — Early voting opened Monday in the District of Columbia, with 25 vote centers running from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day through Sunday, Nov. 1.
Voters can use any center, no matter where they live in the District. Anyone who is eligible but not registered can register on the spot and still vote, as long as they bring accepted proof of residence.
The choices this year are not routine ones. District voters will pick a new mayor for the first time in 12 years, after Mayor Muriel Bowser decided not to seek reelection. They will also choose a new delegate to Congress for the first time in 35 years, following the retirement of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Janeese Lewis George, who won the Democratic primary for mayor, faces independent Rhonda Hamilton and Robert L. Gross of the Statehood Green Party. In the delegate race, Democratic primary winner Robert White faces Republican Denise Rosado and Statehood Green candidate Kymone Freeman.
About three-quarters of registered voters in the District are Democrats.
Council seats are on the ballot too, including the chair, an at-large seat and the seats for Wards 1, 3, 5 and 6. Voters will also decide the races for attorney general and for the District’s shadow representatives to Congress.
This is also the District’s first general election with ranked-choice voting. Contests with three or more candidates are ranked, and voters can rank up to five candidates in those races.
On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, the Board of Elections will open 75 vote centers across the city.
Early voting is already under way in Maryland and Virginia as well. More than 1 million ballots have already been cast in Virginia and more than 480,000 in Maryland, according to the University of Florida Election Lab. The last day of early voting is Thursday, Oct. 29, in Maryland and Saturday, Oct. 31, in Virginia.
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