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)
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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.   

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

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