United States go to the polls: seats open for the House, Senate and 36 governorships

Voting is underway today in the United States for the midterm elections, which will redraw the balance of power in Washington for the next two years. At stake are 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 Senate seats and 36 governorships across as many States: an electoral round that comes at the midpoint of the presidential term and traditionally serves as a check on approval of the administration in office.

According to data from the University of Florida Voting Lab, cited by CBS News, more than 59 million early votes had already been cast before polls opened, a volume signaling substantial turnout even before in-person voting operations began. CBS News identifies 11 races considered decisive for the Senate balance and 49 House districts classified as battlegrounds, the areas where the outcome is considered uncertain until the very end.

There has been no shortage of early technical glitches. In Westchester County, in the State of New York, a problem was reported with ballot scanners right as polls opened. Local authorities clarified that ballots not read by the scanners are not lost: they are collected and set aside for counting at a later time, according to the Associated Press.

The political climate in which voting is taking place is marked by numbers that weigh on how the vote will be read. A national poll, picked up by Sky TG24’s press review, places President Trump’s approval rating at 32%, the lowest figure recorded so far in his term. The same polling picture, cited by international news sources referencing surveys from the Washington Post and the BBC, shows Democrats leading Republicans by 46 percentage points to 38.

These figures are not a verdict: they are opinion projections gathered before the vote, not an election result. But they indicate the context in which the strength of the Republican majority in the House and Senate will be tested, along with the Democrats’ ability to capitalize on a struggling presidential approval rating. Thirty-six governorships are up for renewal on the same day, a number that extends the reach of the vote well beyond Washington, directly affecting the administration of more than two-thirds of American States.

The final result will take time: with millions of early ballots to be verified alongside those collected today at the polls, counting in the most contested districts could extend beyond election night. It remains to be seen what the final composition of the House and Senate will be in the coming days, once the tallies in the 11 races identified as decisive for the Senate and in the 49 districts classified as battlegrounds in the House return a clearer picture.