Voters are casting their ballots nationwide Tuesday to choose whether the next president of the United States will be Donald Trump or Joe Biden, even as tens of millions have already voted either early or through the mail. By the time the polls close, a presidential election cycle that began more than three years ago -- in July 2017 when former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland declared he was running for the Democratic nomination -- will draw to a close as well. Delaney's candidacy did not gain much traction. Neither did the candidacies of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii; self-help author Marianne Williamson; billionaire Tom Steyer, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick; Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and many others. Some Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, made a significant run at the nomination. But all of them eventually wilted in the face of a gangbuster Super Tuesday by Biden who after that point -- and as the coronavirus pandemic largely shut down in-person campaigning -- cruised to the Democratic presidential nomination.