SILVER SPRING, Md. – Early voting began Thursday in Maryland, with some voters lining up before sunrise to cast their votes when the polls opened at 7 a.m. for president, Senate, House, ballot initiatives and various local races.
In Montgomery County, early birds formed a line at dawn outside the Silver Spring Civic Building.
Campaign volunteers set up tables on the plaza and unpacked sheafs of sample ballots to hand out. Inside, election judges plugged in ballot scanners, opened boxes of pens and laid out “I Voted” stickers.
“It’s a festive time,” Alan Bowser of Silver Spring told Capital News Service. Bowser was first in line at 6 a.m., and said he’s held that honor in every cycle since early voting became an option in Maryland.
Early voting began in the state in 2010 after Marylanders overwhelmingly favored a 2008 ballot question empowering lawmakers to write early balloting into law. In the intervening years, the Maryland General Assembly has voted four times to expand the number of early voting sites.