2020 has produced a record-breaking election season for early voting. Americans cast more than 100 million early votes this year— either by mail or in person — due to a nationwide push to keep people socially distanced during the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 283,000 of those votes were cast in D.C., according to the D.C. Board of Elections.

But not everyone in the District decided to vote ahead. WAMU and DCist reporters spoke to voters across the D.C. region about why they decided to wait until Election Day to cast their ballots. 

Jeffrey Bowers was the first in line to vote in Columbia Heights Tuesday morning. He arrived at 6:39 a.m., bundled against the cold in a gray wool coat and hat. “I thought, ‘Get here early, get it done,’” he said.

Like many voters who spoke to WAMU and DCist, Bowers decided to vote in person on Election Day because he didn’t trust the U.S. Postal Service to deliver his ballot — even though he got it weeks in advance. He cited a specific lack of trust in Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. 

Stories about possible voter fraud involving mail-in ballots have been circulating for weeks in the lead-up to the election. Just last night, President Donald J. Trump said he was concerned about “bad things happening” with vote counting in Pennsylvania, without providing a basis for the claim. (In fact, voter fraud — the act of one voter impersonating another — is exceptionally rare.)

Bowers said he didn’t trust most of the news stories about ballots going uncounted, but something about the process still made him nervous. “I just still had that little inner voice in the back of my head that said, ‘You never know if they’re going to be screwing with things,’” he said. “So, I just thought, don’t take the chance.”

Bowers was ultimately happy with his choice: D.C. polling sites opened at 7 a.m., and he was in and out by 7:05. (He voted for Vice President Joe Biden.)

Penniah Hall, who voted at the John E. Howard Community Center in Coral Hills, Maryland, had similar concerns about voting absentee. “I didn’t trust that [my ballot] would be handled properly, stored properly,” she says. “So many things can go wrong even by accident, so I wanted to be sure to be here on the day, my own hands casting it. That way I didn’t have any doubt that it got casted and counted.”

Charlene Morgan of Southeast D.C. was on the fence about how to vote until the last minute: She still had her filled-out absentee ballot in her pocket when she voted in person at Nationals Park.

“I was going to mail my vote in, but me and my daughter talked it over, and she was like, ‘No, Ma, I think you should just go in and vote,” Morgan said. “It felt more secure.”

Marc Lippman walked out of Nats Park a few minutes after Morgan. He had two reasons for voting in person: He was nervous about mailing in a ballot, but he also enjoys the ritual of voting on Election Day.

“I love the process of actually physically voting,” said Lippman, a former poll worker. “I didn’t want to take a chance with [absentee ballots]. I like to be at the machine.”

Lippman’s also a big Nationals fan—he spent Opening Day standing outside the gates with “about a dozen other craze-o’s.” Voting was a good excuse to come back.

The tradition of voting at the polls on Election Day held sway for other voters like Danielle Wallace. The Columbia Heights resident likes bringing her daughter, Mercedes Wallace Contreras, 10, with her to her vote. The two have been going to the polls together since 2016.

But tradition wasn’t all that brought Wallace and her daughter to their community center Tuesday morning. Wallace said she didn’t trust the postal service, even though her best friend voted by mail and suggested she do the same.  “All of the stories that we’ve been hearing…where they’re burning mail, hiding mail,” she said. “I can stand in line, I can wear a mask, I don’t have a problem with any of that. I just know I need to vote. I trust this more than the mail-in ballots.”

Regina Tatum made voting a family affair, too. The District resident brought her 20-year-old twins Ronald and Neyteja with her to vote at Turkey Thicket Recreation Center in Northeast D.C. Most of her family and friends voted early, but she wanted to be there on Election Day to make sure her vote was counted and experience voting as a family.

“I wanted to vote today. This is the day,” she said.

Jordan Pascale contributed reporting. This post has been updated to correct the spelling of Marc Lippman’s name.