Early voting in the District starts Saturday

Early voting in the District starts downtown on Saturday and expands to every ward after Oct. 28.

Any eligible D.C. voter can cast a ballot between 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. at One Judiciary Square from Saturday, Oct. 22 through Sunday Nov. 4. Those with valid proof of residency can register to vote on the same day they plan to cast their ballots.

Early voting expands to polling sites in all eight wards during the same hours from Oct. 28 through Nov. 4.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Nov. 1, and it must be returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Voter registration is slightly down in the District, compared with the previous presidential contest. About 457,000 residents were registered to vote in the District as of Sept. 30. That marks a decline from 483,000 registered voters heading into the 2012 presidential contest, when nearly two-thirds of voters turned out.

In overwhelmingly Democratic D.C., Hillary Clinton essentially has a lock on the city’s three electoral college votes in the presidential contest.

Local races are largely sleepy — the most contested battles took place in June during the city’s Democratic primary.

One notable item on the ballot is a statehood referendum, which Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) plans to use to petition Congress and the next president to turn the District into the 51st state.

The ballot question refers to the proposed state as “New Columbia,” but members of the council voted this week to change the name to the State of Washington, D.C., with D.C. standing for Douglass Commonwealth.

[D.C. Council gives people more power over District election]

Former mayor Vincent C. Gray is expected to make his return to city politics official as the Ward 7 Council member. He defeated incumbent Yvette M. Alexander in the Democratic primary, and faces independents Gary Butler and Christian Carter in the general election.

[Gray makes political comeback as D.C. Council incumbents fall]

At-large incumbents Robert White (D) and David Grosso (I) are also on the ballot. They face Republican Carolina Celnik, independent John C. Cheeks, Libertarian Matthew Klokel and D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate G. Lee Aikin. The top two vote getters win at-large seats.

White is seeking a full-term after his September appointment to the seat vacated by the resignation of Vincent B. Orange, who lost to White in the Democratic primary and subsequently gave up his seat.

Council members Brandon T. Todd (D-Ward 4) and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) are running uncontested, as is Democrat Trayon White in Ward 8.

Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) is seeking her 14th term as the city’s nonoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. She is being challenged by Natale Lino Stracuzzi (D.C. Statehood Green Party) and Martin Moulton (Libertarian).

Mary Lord, who holds an at-large seat for the D.C. State Board of Education, is on the ballot for a second term. She faces Ashley Carter and Tony Donaldson Jr. for the nonpartisan office. Competing for the Ward 7 seat on the D.C. State Board of Education are Dorothy Douglas, Marla M. Dean and Karen Williams. The Ward 8 seat to the board is a contest between Tierra Jolly, Markus Batchelor and Shakira T. Hemphill.

The following early voting sites will be open to all voters, regardless of where they live. Voters who want to avoid long lines can check the Board of Elections’ website, which has a page updated in real-time with waiting times at each early voting site.

Ward 1: Columbia Heights Community Center

Ward 2: One Judiciary Square

Ward 3: Chevy Chase Community Center

Ward 4: Takoma Community Center October

Ward 5: Turkey Thicket Recreation Center

Ward 6: Sherwood Recreation Center

Ward 6: King Greenleaf Recreation Center

Ward 7: Dorothy I. Height/Benning Library

Ward 8: Malcolm X Elementary School