Election Day looked different this year. Photos from the 2018 midterm elections just two years ago contain scenes glaringly missing from Tuesday: crowded poll sites, tightly packed voter lines and candidates hugging at celebration parties, to name a few. In 2020, voting meant a lot more hand sanitizer, face masks and waiting outside.

Still, the COVID-19 pandemic did not stop New Yorkers from turning up to vote: 1.1. million residents voted early before the election, 1.2 million turned out in person on Tuesday while another
1.1 million people requested absentee ballots, NYC Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson said at a press briefing Tuesday.

“We’re waiting to see how many of those are returned, but yesterday could equal or surpass the highest turnout we’ve ever had in a presidential election in New York City,” he said. “And this is during the pandemic, which meant that people had to take extra precautions. It shows how much New Yorkers care about our democracy.”

City Limits’ reporting team was fanned out Tuesday visiting poll sites on Staten Island and in south Brooklyn, home to competitive Congressional and State Senate races this year. Here are some scenes from throughout the day.

  • Volunteers for Republican Congressional candidate Nicole Malliotakis on Ridge Boulevard & 74th Street in Brooklyn. (Nicole Javorsky)
  • Signs remind Brooklyn voters about face masks, social distancing and hand sanitizer. (Adi Talwar)
  • Voters at a polling site on the corner of Ridge Boulevard and 73rd Street in Brooklyn. (Adi Talwar)
  • Tables with plexiglass barriers at the polling location at Christ Church in Bay Ridge. (Adi Talwar)
  • Voters exiting a poll site at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton Library. (Adi Talwar)
  • People congregate outside the voting site at the Neighborhood Senior Center on Staten Island. (Adi Talwar)
  • Poll workers sit behind a plexiglass barrier at P.S. 65 on Staten Island. (Adi Talwar)
  • Masked voters and poll workers at Staten Island’s P.S. 65. (Adi Talwar)
  • The entrance to the poll site at P.S. 65 on Staten Island.
  • Max Rose campaign volunteers hold signs on St.Paul Avenue and Grant Street on Staten Island.
  • Floor signs point voters to the polls at Staten Island’s P.S. 20. (Daniel Parra)
  • Volunteers from opposing campaigns hold signs on corner of Ridge Boulevard and 73rd Street in Bay Ridge. (Adi Talwar)
  • A masked voter exits the poll site at Christ Church in Bay Ridge. (Nicole Javorsky)
  • A volunteer for Brooklyn state Sen. Andrew Gounardes’ campaign stands on a quiet corner in Bay Ridge. (Nicole Javorsky)

Photos by Adi Talwar, Nicole Javorsky and Daniel Parra.