A poll worker looks at voters coming in on Election Day, Nov. 3, at John Winthrop Elementary School, a polling station in Roxbury. Photo by Anoushka Dalmia/BU News Service 
Shaileen Poress, a volunteer with Common Cause Massachusetts, stands outside the Moses Youth Center Polling Station in Cambridge Nov. 3. Photo by Shwetha Surendran/BU News Service 
Margie Mendez, a Brookline resident who came to vote at 6 a.m., is the first to vote at Brookline Town Hall Tuesday, Nov. 3. She said it’s our right to vote, and felt honored to be first in line. Photo by Anran Xie/BU News Service 
Poll worker Lisa Beasley organizes ballot folders Tuesday afternoon at a voting station on Washington Street Nov. 3. Photo by Caitlin Faulds/BU News Service 
Juan Ayala-Powell stands outside the voting station on Washington Street in the South End Nov. 3. His cousin pushed him to vote early, he said, so he cast his vote for Joe Biden last week. Photo by Caitlin Faulds/BU News Service 
Meg Hitchcock-Smith volunteers in the Precinct 11 polling station Nov. 3. Hitchcock-Smith, a senior from Brookline High School, said even though she was too young to vote this year, this was a good way to experience the election. Photo by Anran Xie/BU News Service 
Emily Patenaude, 30, and her two-and-a-half-year-old son, Buddy, wait outside a polling station in Cambridge on Tuesday. Photo by Shwetha Surendran/BU News Service 
A woman poses in American flag leggings before she votes in Florida Ruffin Ridley School Nov. 3. Photo by Anran Xie/BU News Service 
Officer Javier Pagan checks out voters on Tuesday afternoon at a voting station on Washington Street Nov. 3. Photo by Caitlin Faulds/BU News Service 
Kaitlin O’Mealey (left), 25, and Thomas O’Hare (right), 26, cast their votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Nov. 3. “I don’t totally agree with everything Joe Biden has said or done, but I feel like I don’t have another option on who to vote for,” O’Hare said. Photo by Camila Beiner/BU News Service 
Kirk Israel plays the sousaphone outside a polling station Nov. 3. “I’m just trying to give them some musical energy,” Israel said. Photo by Colbi Edmonds/BU News Service 
Sina Abraham, 17, and Fayza Beshir, 17, volunteers at the Moses Youth Center voting station, give each other a hug on Tuesday Nov. 3. Photo by Shwetha Surendran/BU News Service 
Bethany Bell, a volunteer at the Brookline High School precincts, says there was a rush of voters for about 50 minutes before the line cooled down Nov. 3. “Every election is important,” Bell said, “I feel this one is especially important.” Photo by Nathan Lederman/BU News Service 
James Slayton, warden at the Brookline Town Hall polling location, said that voting has been very “robust” throughout the morning of Election Day Nov. 3. Photo by Claudia Chiappa/BU News Service. 
Shira Fischer holds the Yes on 2 sign in support of ranked-choice voting outside Precint 11’s voting station at the Michael Driscoll School Nov. 3. Photo by Anran Xie/BU News Service 
Courtney Townshend, 32, waits with her dog, Benny, as her husband casts his vote Nov. 3. Townshend voted for Joe Biden because she wants someone to create unity in the country, she said. Photo by Camila Beiner/BU News Service
Multiple Authors
BU News Service
Polls are closed. Counting has begun. People across the country are tuning in to watch results stream slowly in until a decisive victory on this year’s contentious presidential race becomes clear.
But who are the people behind the record-breaking voting numbers seen in Massachusetts today? Who was on the ground acting as the catalyst for change, the guardian of the status quo or the machinery behind a democratic process? Reporters with BU News Service spent time around the city to put a face behind the numbers.
Anoushka Dalmia, Caitlin Faulds, Anran Xie, Camila Beiner, Nathan Lederman, Colbi Edmonds, Claudia Chiappa and John Terhune contributed to this story.
