BALLOTS CAST AMID PANDEMIC, PROTESTS

On the biggest day of voting since the coronavirus disrupted public life, Americans cast ballots in extraordinary circumstances Tuesday, heading to the polls during a national health and economic crisis and amid the widespread protests and police deployments that have disrupted communities across the nation.

It made for some unusual scenes in this most unusual election season.

In the nation’s capital, for instance, polling places were to remain open until 8 p.m., while the citywide curfew in place began at 7 p.m. (the police did not anticipate arresting voters who broke the curfew).

In Philadelphia, 70 percent of polling places were closed while the authorities banned vehicle traffic and shut down public transportation in Center City, the downtown area, because of the unrest, meaning the only ways to get to polling sites were by foot or by bicycle.

And in Indianapolis, where 90 percent of polling locations were closed, voters faced long lines outdoors in 90-degree heat to vote in the remaining spots.

Voters in eight states and Washington, D.C., were choosing nominees for congressional and local offices while casting perfunctory ballots in the presidential contest.

The most prominent race Tuesday involved the defeat of Rep. Steve King, R-iowa, a conservative lightning rod known for making incendiary comments about immigrants and white supremacy for nearly two decades. King lost to challenger Randy Feenstra, a businessman serving in the Iowa State Senate.

All locales voting on Tuesday

had seen an exponential surge in absentee voting because of the pandemic, with some states receiving more than 20 times the absentee requests of four years ago. The increase in absentee ballots also brought a new reality to an already irregular election night: Some jurisdictions, overburdened by the amount of mail ballots, would be sluggish in reporting returns.

JESSICA KOURKOUNIS GETTY IMAGES Voters cast primary election ballots in Philadelphia. Seventy percent of the city’s polling places were closed as authorities braced for protests over the death of George Floyd, an African-american man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis.