Barriers to the Ballot Box

Published — November 3, 2020

Election Day photos from Public Integrity journalists

Protesters filled Black Lives Matter Plaza, just north of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2020, as polls closed across the nation. (Sarah Kleiner/Center for Public Integrity)

Introduction

One-hundred million Americans had voted before polls even opened on Tuesday. Whether hundreds of thousands of those votes will actually be counted was playing out in court battles up to and through Election Day in keeping with President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign strategy of making it more difficult to vote this year.

The nation’s capital saw new security measures in place at the White House and businesses adding plywood to windows, in anticipation of what might happen should a massive turnout for one candidate be voided by disenfranchisement tactics and a ruling by Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices. Our Barriers to the Ballot Box series will show you how we got here and what we expect to learn this week.

In these photos taken by Center for Public Integrity journalists during Election Day, you’ll see a snapshot of the District and the surrounding area as Americans headed to the polls.   

Click “View Gallery” to see more photos

Workers board up the Old Ebbitt Grill
Workers board up the Old Ebbitt Grill in the District on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in anticipation of vandalism that might happen on Election Day. (Kimberly Cataudella/Center for Public Integrity)
Protest signs hang on the fence outside the White House on Election Day. (Sarah Kleiner/Center for Public Integrity)
Metropolitan police patrol the District on bikes on Election Day. (Sarah Kleiner/Center for Public Integrity)
A restricted area sign is displayed on the fence outside the White House on Election Day. (Kimberly Cataudella/Center for Public Integrity)

Scenes from Election Day

A snapshot of America outside a polling location in Gambrills, Maryland. Both signs were defaced: the Biden sign (left) with a QAnon talking point and the Trump sign (right) with an X. (Jamie Smith Hopkins/Center for Public Integrity)
Scott Hines takes a photo of his son, Kayson Hines, 7, next to a Black Lives Matter mural near the White House on Nov. 3, 2020. Hines brought his son to the White House to observe a historic Election Day after they stopped by a nearby memorial to those who lost their lives to COVID-19. (Sarah Kleiner/Center for Public Integrity)
A man in a “Donald Trump” hat rides his bicycle outside Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. on Nov. 3, 2020. (Sarah Kleiner/Center for Public Integrity)
Nationals Park was a super vote center in the District on Election Day. As of 10:30 a.m., election volunteers said there were not many voters yet. (Peter Newbatt Smith/Center for Public Integrity)
Demetrius Cartwright sits quietly along the fence outside the White House on Nov. 3, 2020. (Sarah Kleiner/Center for Public Integrity)

More scenes from Election Day

Signs along a boulevard in Arlington County, Virginia, on Nov. 3, 2020. (Sarah Kleiner/Center for Public Integrity)

Read more in Money and Democracy

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