Americans begin casting midterm ballots Friday as Virginia opens in-person early voting and several other states make absentee ballots available ahead of the Nov. 3 elections that will determine control of Congress.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
HENRICO, Va. — The first in-person ballots of the 2026 midterm elections are being cast Friday, beginning a six-week stretch in which voters will decide control of Congress while also choosing governors, state lawmakers and other officials across the country.
Virginia is opening its in-person early voting period Friday. Voters in Idaho, Minnesota and South Dakota are among those who can also begin casting absentee ballots in person, generally through local election offices or designated voting centers. Additional states will expand early-voting opportunities in the coming weeks.
Election Day is Nov. 3.
Republicans currently hold majorities in both the House and Senate, placing control of each chamber before voters. A change in congressional control would also affect the balance between Congress and President Donald Trump during the final two years of his term, including the scope of congressional investigations, hearings and other oversight activity.
The campaign is unfolding as voters confront a range of national issues, including gasoline and grocery costs, the continuing U.S. war involving Iran, immigration enforcement and concerns about the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence.
The mechanics of the election have also become a major national issue.
State and local election officials say they are prepared to administer the vote accurately and securely, even as legal disputes and federal initiatives involving voter registration, mail ballots and citizenship verification continue.
Trump’s administration has pursued several efforts to expand federal involvement in election procedures, including attempts to obtain voter information from states and use federal databases to identify potentially ineligible noncitizens on voter rolls. The administration has argued that significant numbers of ineligible people remain registered, while election research has repeatedly found actual noncitizen voting to be rare.
One of the administration’s most consequential election proposals was blocked this week.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the administration’s attempt to put new U.S. Postal Service requirements for mail ballots into effect before the November election. The proposed system would have required states to provide voter information and use federally approved ballot-envelope procedures. The ruling left existing state mail-voting systems in place for this election.
The decision came as voting preparations were already underway around the country.
Trump has for years raised concerns about noncitizens participating illegally in U.S. elections. His administration has said hundreds of thousands of people who are not eligible to vote appear on registration lists, while studies and election officials have maintained that actual ballots cast illegally by noncitizens occur infrequently.
David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said he expects the debate over election administration to continue through November.
He said he would not be surprised if Trump continues “his disinformation campaign and his attack on election officials.”
Despite those concerns and other pressures on election administrators, Becker said, “ultimately the process will hold as it has in past years.”
This year’s congressional elections are also being conducted under substantially different district boundaries for millions of voters.
An unusual wave of mid-decade redistricting began after Trump urged Texas’ Republican-controlled Legislature to redraw congressional districts before the 2026 election. Other states responded with map changes of their own, including California.
The resulting changes have moved nearly 35 million people — roughly one in 10 Americans — into congressional districts different from those in which they lived during the 2024 election, according to research by Protect Democracy.
The redistricting battles have been shaped further by a major Supreme Court ruling involving Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the use of race in drawing congressional districts.
The court ruled this year that compliance with Section 2 can provide a compelling justification for considering race under some circumstances, but found that Louisiana’s specific use of race in redrawing its map was unconstitutional. The decision has subsequently affected redistricting litigation in several states.
Those disputes could continue beyond this year’s elections as states and political parties consider additional congressional map changes before the 2028 presidential election.
Voters using mail ballots face another practical consideration this fall.
Voting-rights organizations have been urging people who choose to vote by mail to return their ballots early because of concerns that changes in Postal Service operations could affect the timing of postmarks or delivery.
“Voting early, whether in person or by mail, is good for all of our communities because it gives voters options, eases lines on Election Day and can even mean faster results,” said Hannah Fried, co-founder and CEO of All Voting Is Local.
The Postal Service said this week that it had stopped work on the computer system connected to the Trump administration’s proposed mail-ballot restrictions following the Supreme Court action, allowing normal election-mail procedures to continue.
In Minnesota, where absentee voting is beginning, Secretary of State Steve Simon sought Thursday to reassure voters about the process amid competing claims over election security and administration.
Simon said voters would be able to cast ballots “just like they always have.”
Friday’s start of voting marks the transition from months of campaigning, litigation and redistricting disputes to the actual casting of ballots, with Americans now beginning to decide the composition of the House, Senate and state governments that will serve after the Nov. 3 elections.
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