Early Voting Opens in US Midterms as Control of Congress Hangs in Balance

In-person voting for the United States midterm elections opened on Friday, launching a six-week window in which Americans will decide which party controls Congress amid mounting concern over the cost of living, the war in Iran and other pressing issues.

Virginia began early voting on Friday, while voters in a handful of other states, including Idaho, Minnesota and South Dakota, can cast absentee ballots in person, typically at a local election office or voting centre. Broader early voting is due to start in those and other states in the coming weeks.

Election administrators say they are prepared and confident the vote will be accurate and secure. Even so, President Donald Trump has continued to question certain voting methods and to press for changes to how elections are run, through court challenges, a wide-ranging federal search for noncitizen voters and efforts to compel election officials to hand over sensitive voter data.

The Nov. 3 election includes contests for governor and state legislature in most states and will determine whether Republicans retain their majorities in the House and Senate. A Democratic takeover of Congress would alter the course of the final two years of Trump's term, likely bringing investigations and other oversight efforts.

The start of early voting comes as many Americans express deep anxiety about rising petrol and grocery prices, the war in Iran, the emerging risks of artificial intelligence and Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement campaign.

It also follows an unusual wave of mid-decade redistricting for the House, which began after Trump urged the Republican-controlled legislature in Texas to redraw its congressional map to benefit the party. California and other states followed suit. Research indicates that one in ten Americans this autumn live in a different congressional district than they did in 2024. Such partisan map-drawing is expected to continue ahead of the 2028 elections, after a landmark Supreme Court ruling earlier this year weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections against racially discriminatory redistricting.

As early voting approached, Trump focused on asserting federal control over election administration, even though the Constitution assigns the power to run elections to the states and, in some cases, Congress. The Supreme Court this week rejected his bid to restrict mail ballots, but several other administration efforts to influence the voting process and to mine state voter lists for illegitimate voters are ongoing. Trump has for years raised the prospect of widespread noncitizen voting, and this year is no exception, though research continues to show such voting is exceptionally rare.

David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said he would not be surprised if the president continued what he called a disinformation campaign and attacks on election officials, but added that he believed the process would ultimately hold as it has in past years.

Voting rights advocates have encouraged voters to cast mail ballots early, partly because of concerns that recent changes to U.S. Postal Service operations could delay the application of postmarks to ballots. Hannah Fried, co-founder and CEO of the voting rights group All Voting Is Local, said voting early, whether in person or by mail, gives voters options, eases lines on Election Day and can even mean faster results.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon urged people not to be swayed by stories casting doubt on election operations, saying they would be able to vote just as they always have. He reaffirmed that Minnesota's elections are fundamentally free, fair, accurate, honest and secure.