Updated at 9:04 p.m.
The Washington Nationals are back at their ballpark for an unusual season, but the stands are notably empty (except for a few cardboard family members). This fall, D.C. residents will get a chance to visit the park for the first time in months, but not to watch baseball … to vote.
Nationals Ballpark will be used as a polling site for the November election, D.C. Board of Elections director Alice Miller confirmed to DCist/WAMU. It’s part of the city’s efforts to transform large facilities into voting centers where it’s easier to social distance.
Nats Park will be open for early and day-of voting, election officials said.
The ballpark is the second sports venue that election officials have announced will serve as polling stations. Earlier this month, officials confirmed plans to use the Capital One Arena as a polling center, and to use two hotels, the Omni Shoreham and Washington Hilton, as “super vote centers.”
Monumental Sports and Entertainment — which owns the Washington Wizards, Mystics, and Capitals — offered to let the city use the arena as a polling place as part of a wider effort by its teams and athletes to encourage voting this November.
And the Nationals aren’t the first Major League Baseball team to lend their park to election efforts. Dodger Stadium will be used as a polling center for Los Angeles County voters.
Mark Lerner, the managing principal owner of the Nationals, said the team was “thrilled to help alleviate” challenges associated with voting in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Nationals Park is a civic asset and the Nationals will always work to ensure that it can be utilized in service to the community in as many ways as possible,” Lerner said in a statement.
“Since this past spring, we have hosted World Central Kitchen to help feed members of the DMV community who were in need. This fall, we can help make sure one of most important civic responsibilities can be completed as seamlessly and safely as possible.”
This year, D.C. will limit the number of in-person voting sites for the November election. The city plans to operate 80 polling sites on Nov. 3 and 17 early voting locations for a one-week period before the election.
Some officials, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, had pushed for the city to operate close to its normal 144 polling stations on Election Day, but others raised concerns about the challenge of recruiting enough poll workers willing to work during a pandemic.
Officials ultimately decided to open a smaller number of voting sites but focus on larger facilities where it’s easier to social distance.
The District is also mailing out absentee ballots to all registered voters — they’re scheduled to start arriving by early October. Voters can return their ballots via mail, or they can use one of up to 50 ballot drop boxes officials plan to install across the city ahead of the election.
This story has been updated with comments from Mark Lerner, owner of the Washington Nationals.
