Early Voting Begins in US Midterms as Control of Congress Hangs in the Balance

In-person early voting in the United States midterm elections began on Friday, September 18, 2026, opening the final six weeks in which voters will decide which party controls Congress. The elections, to be held on November 3, will determine whether the Republican Party retains its majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Votes are also being cast for governor and state legislature in most states.

Virginia began in-person early voting on Friday. Voters in a handful of other states, including Idaho, Minnesota and South Dakota, can now cast absentee ballots in person, usually at a local election office or voting centre. Broader early voting is scheduled to begin in those and other states in the coming weeks.

Election administrators say they are prepared and confident that the vote will be accurate and secure. President Donald Trump, however, has continued to question certain voting methods and to seek changes in how elections are run, through court challenges, a federal effort to identify non-citizen voters, and pressure on election officials to share sensitive voter data.

The Constitution gives states, and in some cases Congress, the power to run elections. As early voting approached, Mr. Trump was focused on asserting federal influence over election administration. The Supreme Court this week rejected his bid to restrict mail ballots, but several other efforts by his administration to influence the voting process and to examine state voter lists remain ongoing.

The President has for years raised the prospect of widespread voting by non-citizens in US elections, and he has done so again this year. His administration says hundreds of thousands of people are illegally on voter rolls across the country. Research, however, continues to show that voting by non-citizens is exceptionally rare.

The election comes at a time of deep anxiety among many Americans about the rising cost of petrol and groceries, the war in Iran, the risks associated with artificial intelligence, and Mr. Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement campaign.

It also follows an unusual round of mid-decade redistricting for the House. The process began when Mr. Trump urged the Republican-controlled legislature in Texas to redraw its congressional map to benefit his party. California and other states responded with their own redrawn maps.

The changes affect millions of people. Research shows that one in ten Americans will vote this autumn in a different congressional district from the one they lived in during 2024. Such partisan redistricting is expected to continue ahead of the 2028 elections, after a landmark Supreme Court ruling earlier this year weakened the federal Voting Rights Act's protections against racially discriminatory maps.

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 described as a disinformation campaign and attacks on election officials. Even so, Mr. Becker said he believed that "ultimately the process will hold as it has in past years".

Voting rights advocates have encouraged voters to cast mail ballots early this year, partly because of concerns about recent changes in US Postal Service operations that could delay the application of postmarks to ballots.

"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 chief executive of the voting rights group All Voting Is Local.

Early and postal voting have grown steadily in recent US elections, though their expansion has been contested in court in several states. If the Democratic Party retakes Congress, it would change the course of the final two years of Mr. Trump's term, likely leading to investigations and other oversight efforts.