BALTIMORE (AP) — Maryland is holding a special election with just three polling centers open Tuesday in a race dramatically reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic. Former NAACP head Kweisi Mfume is the Democratic nominee facing Republican challenger Kimberly Klacik for the seat opened by the death last October of Congressman Elijah Cummings.

Kwiesi Mfume

Election officials mailed out roughly 484,000 ballots to 7th District voters, encouraging everyone to vote by mail by day’s end to reduce the risk of infection. More than 85,000 votes were mailed in before Election Day. The vote was going to be exclusively by mail, but limited in-person voting was allowed to accommodate the homeless and disabled.

Kimberly Klacik