Tense situation - voters head to in-person balloting in US midterms
The US midterm elections, which will influence the direction of the country's politics for the next two years, leading up to the 2024 presidential elections and beyond, started with in-person voting on tuesday in a very tense environment. Before the first voter entered the voting booth to elect members of congress and, in some states, governors and other officials, about 45 million voters had already cast their ballots through early voting. Only five seats in the 435-member house of Representatives and one Senate seat in the 100-member chamber can decide whether the Democrats keep control of either chamber or the Republicans take control of either.
Due to the lengthy process of counting postal and absentee ballots, the need for runoff elections, or the need to count ranked ballots if no candidate received a majority of the vote, the final results are unlikely to be known immediately, especially in some crucial contests. The ultimate result for the Senate may not be known until next month. While the house appears to be swinging in favour of the Democrats, the opinion polls in important Senate races in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and New hampshire are in the margin of error range, leaving them unpredictable. President Joe Biden acknowledged the ambiguity when speaking to reporters monday night: "We'll win the Senate, in my opinion. The house, in my opinion, is harsher ".
Due to the lengthy process of counting postal and absentee ballots, the need for runoff elections, or the need to count ranked ballots if no candidate received a majority of the vote, the final results are unlikely to be known immediately, especially in some crucial contests. The ultimate result for the Senate may not be known until next month. While the house appears to be swinging in favour of the Democrats, the opinion polls in important Senate races in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and New hampshire are in the margin of error range, leaving them unpredictable. President Joe Biden acknowledged the ambiguity when speaking to reporters monday night: "We'll win the Senate, in my opinion. The house, in my opinion, is harsher ".