Early voting begins in US midterm elections that could flip control of Congress

In-per­son vot­ing for this year’s midterm elec­tions be­gan Fri­day, ush­er­ing in the fi­nal six weeks for Amer­i­cans to de­cide which par­ty they trust to lead Con­gress through a cost-of-liv­ing cri­sis, a pro­longed war in Iran and oth­er press­ing is­sues.

Elec­tion ad­min­is­tra­tors say they are pre­pared and con­fi­dent the vote will be ac­cu­rate and se­cure. Nev­er­the­less, Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump has con­tin­ued with ef­forts to den­i­grate cer­tain vot­ing meth­ods and re­shape how elec­tions are run, through court chal­lenges, an ex­pan­sive fed­er­al hunt for nonci­t­i­zen vot­ers and a pres­sure cam­paign to force elec­tion of­fi­cials to share sen­si­tive vot­er da­ta.

Fri­day marked the start of ear­ly vot­ing in Vir­ginia. Vot­ers in a hand­ful of oth­er states, in­clud­ing Ida­ho, Min­neso­ta and South Dako­ta, can cast ab­sen­tee bal­lots in per­son, typ­i­cal­ly at a lo­cal elec­tion of­fice or vot­ing cen­ter. More ex­pan­sive ear­ly vot­ing is sched­uled to be­gin in those and oth­er states in the com­ing weeks.