All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 in the Senate will help determine control of Congress, with Democrats currently holding majorities in both houses. Outside of DC, 36 states will hold gubernatorial votes, including several states bordering Canada — Idaho, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The dominant trend in the modern history of US midterm elections is a congressional backlash for the party that holds the White House. Biden said Monday he believed Democrats would retain the Senate, but acknowledged “the House is tougher.” Republicans were optimistic, betting that messages focused on the economy, gas prices and crime would resonate. “It will be a referendum on the incompetence of this administration,” said Minnesota Republican Rep. Tom Emmer, who is leading the party’s effort to retake the House. WATCHES | State races are key to managing elections in times of contestation, analyst says:
Economy, democracy dominate US midterms, professor says
Many Americans are voting in the midterm elections with economic concerns in mind, but millions more see democracy under threat, especially from candidates who don’t accept the outcome of the last presidential election, says Ravi Perry, a political science professor at Howard University. .
Issues in Maricopa County, Arizona
Late Tuesday morning, officials in Maricopa County, Ariz., said about 20 percent of their voting machines were malfunctioning. In a video statement, Bill Gates, the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said officials were trying to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. They had a backup system in place where unscanned ballots could be placed in a secure box for recording at a central location Tuesday afternoon, Gates said. A man waits in line to vote in the Maricopa County, Arizona, town of Cave Creek on Tuesday. County officials said voting machines were malfunctioning at about a fifth of polling places. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) There has been a flurry of discussion — and misinformation — on Twitter about the issue, with some users sharing conspiracy theories claiming the machine failures were intentional, according to the nonpartisan Election Integrity Partnership. Last year, Maricopa County was at the center of a Republican-led audit of ballots from the 2020 presidential election in an effort to find irregularities that could support former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election. The audit confirmed Biden’s victory.
The 2020 election refuses a campaign issue
In the first national election since the January 6 uprising at the US Capitol, the nation’s democratic future is being called into question. Some who participated in or were close to the deadly attack are poised to win elected office Tuesday, including House seats. Some Republican candidates for secretary of state refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, and if they win on Tuesday, they would control future elections in key states. Trump and his allies have managed to sow widespread distrust of the vote by promoting false claims of widespread fraud in 2020, even though Trump’s own attorney general and the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division have said there is no credible evidence that the election were contaminated. The former president’s claims of fraud were also rejected by the courts. Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Cary Lake arrives for a campaign stop Monday in Phoenix. Lake dismissed the results of the 2020 election in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) Major players in voting machines, including Toronto-based Dominion Voting Systems, have filed lawsuits against several conservative media organizations and pundits over what they describe as defamatory claims about their technology in relation to the 2020 vote. Election officials defended the system. They note the many checks that are made to ensure that only one vote per person is counted, the reviews that ensure the machines are counting ballots accurately and the efforts to detect any attempted fraud.
“monitors” carrying weapons
But the efforts of Trump and others have eroded public trust in elections and democracy, led to restrictions on mail-in voting and new ID requirements in some Republican-led states, and prompted threats against the election. Before the midterms, Republicans and conservative groups recruited people to serve as poll watchers and to be hired as local poll workers. Some people even positioned themselves near polling stations in Arizona while carrying weapons, wearing body armor and hiding their faces with masks. Just last week, a judge ordered such groups to stay at least 75 meters apart. WATCHES | Discontent fueling the Republican agenda, says Mark McKinnon:
Circus host Mark McKinnon on what to watch for in the US midterm elections
With the US midterm elections just days away, The Circus host and longtime political consultant Mark McKinnon sits down with Adrienne Arsenault to give his insight on how the US midterm elections will play out, why so many Americans are flocking to controversial candidates like Marjorie Taylor Greene and the state of democracy in the United States; Meanwhile, the US Justice Department announced Monday that it will monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in 64 jurisdictions in 24 states. No significant problems were reported during the early voting period. But on Monday, some of Pennsylvania’s largest counties scrambled to help voters correct ballots that had defects such as incorrect dates or missing signatures on the envelopes used to mail them, prompting confusion and legal challenges in the battleground state.
Some results may take longer
Nearly 45 million Americans have already voted in person or by mail, according to the United States Elections Program, and that vote is expected to favor Democrats, especially after years of discrediting mail-in voting. Democrats are hoping to energize their base by appealing to independents and voters angered after the Supreme Court this year stripped the constitutional right to abortion, eliminating five decades of protections. WATCHES | On the ground with those trying to secure Michigan’s position on abortion:
Abortion rights on ballot in Michigan midterm elections
In Michigan, midterm voters will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. It is one of several states where abortion rights will literally be on the ballot. On both sides of the issue, voters say lives are at stake. Different voting rules and deadlines will mean some states will be quicker to report than others. Election officials in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan were unable to begin processing mail-in ballots until Tuesday. “Results, as always, will take a while because Election Day is not results day,” said Sylvia Albert, polling director for the nonpartisan voter advocacy group Common Cause. That could lead to delays in determining which party won the Senate, which is currently 50-50 with a Democratic tie. The result in the House, with all but a few dozen races considered setbacks due in part to the region’s unrest, is widely expected to be known sooner. Additionally, Georgia has a 50 percent winner-take-all requirement, leaving open the possibility that the Senate race between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker could lead to a runoff next month.
High stakes for agenda, legislation
The overall results could have a profound impact on the Biden presidency. Republican control of even one chamber of Congress would leave Biden vulnerable to a series of investigations into his family and administration, while he defends his policy achievements. An emboldened GOP could also make it harder to raise the debt ceiling and add restrictions on additional support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell has already hinted that he may refuse to fill any open seat on the high court until after the 2024 presidential election if he returns to the position of majority leader, as he did in 2016 when he effectively blocked the effort of Barack Obama to nominate Merrick. Garland in the Supreme Court. Front Burner22:42 How middlemen could shape US policy for years On Tuesday, the US holds its midterm elections. That means all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, as are about a third of the Senate seats. These in-betweens are important. It’s the first major election since Joe Biden became president, since rioters stormed the Capitol, and since Roe v. Wade was overturned. The results could influence American politics for years to come. Today, CBC Washington correspondent Paul Hunter talks about some of the tight games and what makes them so consistent.
