In-person voting for this year’s midterm elections is underway in Virginia, ushering in the final six weeks for Americans to decide which party they trust to lead Congress at a time of a cost-of-living crisis, a prolonged war in Iran and other pressing issues. Voters in Idaho, Minnesota and South Dakota, can cast absentee ballots in person.
Meanwhile, the top official at the U.S. Postal Service has said the agency has stopped work on developing a controversial
computer system that was central to President Donald Trump’s effort to limit mail voting after the Supreme Court rejected his executive order this week.
Here's the latest:
“We say seven days,” postmaster general David Steiner said in an interview. “Everything is solved if people vote early.”
On a rainy day in Sioux Falls, Bill Goehring, 67, said he voted early at the county office because he will be traveling later. He voted for a mix of Democrats and independents, and said Trump’s “dictatorial tendencies are bad for America.”
Voting rights advocates have encouraged voters this year to cast mail ballots early, in part because of concerns about recent changes in U.S. 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 CEO of the voting rights group All Voting Is Local.
In a news briefing Thursday, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon urged people not to be swayed by stories they might have seen or read that cast doubt on election operations. They would be able to vote “just like they always have,” he said.
The start of early voting comes at a time of deep angst among many Americans about issues including rising gas and grocery prices, the war in Iran, the looming risks of artificial intelligence and Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign.
It also follows an unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House that began when Trump urged the Republican-controlled legislature in Texas to redraw its congressional map to help the party. California and other states followed.
The changes affect millions of people: Research shows 1 in 10 Americans this fall is a resident of a different congressional district than in 2024.
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Friday marks the start of early voting in the midterm elections in Virginia. Voters in a handful of other states, including Idaho, Minnesota and South Dakota, can now cast absentee ballots in person.
The first day of early voting ushers in a six-week stretch in which Americans will decide which party they trust to lead Congress through a cost-of-living crisis, a prolonged war in Iran and other pressing issues.
At a voting location in suburban Richmond, a poll worker rang a bell as the building opened Friday morning and a cheerful line of about a dozen voters who had queued up began to file in.
Stephen Gura was excited to be the first in line.
“This election is critical,” said Gura, who added he voted for incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and Shannon Taylor, a Democratic nominee for the U.S. House.
Attorney General Todd Blanche is blurring traditional boundaries between politics and federal law enforcement with recent speeches at political events that mark a sharp departure from norms meant to protect the Justice Department from the appearance of partisan bias.
Blanche took the stage this week at an event for a Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina days after speaking at a GOP midterm convention, where he praised Trump and touted the administration’s tough-on-crime approach.
Blanche’s participation at the rallies has drawn scrutiny from critics who say it threatens to undermine public faith in law enforcement decisions that are supposed to be made free of political interference. It has added to critics’ concerns about Blanche’s loyalty to Trump and White House influence on Justice Department matters against the backdrop of investigations into numerous perceived foes of the president.
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They rallied Friday in a government-organized show of defiance after months of war, pledging their readiness to take up arms in the biggest such demonstration since the United States and Israel attacked in February.
Iran’s government has sought to rally the people and stress national unity, even as the economy worsens under a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and new U.S. sanctions. On Friday, it claimed another attack on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway it has sought to control since the start of the war.
Estimates varied of the number of people volunteering to receive limited military training and defend the country in an effort described as “Janfaday-e Iran,” or the “ones who sacrifice their lives for Iran.” They marched through downtown Tehran in combat uniform, carrying flags, as onlookers cheered.
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Taiwan conducted military drills featuring missiles and drones Friday ahead of the summit next week in the U.S. between President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping in which the fate of the self-ruled island will be discussed.
China claims Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, as its own breakaway province and hasn’t renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Beijing has pushed Trump to take a stronger stance opposing Taiwan’s independence. The leaders of the U.S. and China are set to meet Sept. 24 for the first time since May.
Taiwan’s military drills included for the first time joint combat exercises featuring multiple types of attack drones. President Lai Ching-te said the drills showcased the Taiwanese army’s modernization.
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President Trump came to battleground North Carolina doubling down on a tantalizing and implausible midterm promise. “If we win,” he said, “we’re going to get you $5,000. So that’s it. Very simple.”
The Republican candidates who spoke at the rally had nothing to say about it.
Their silence reflects a broader pattern. About a week after the president unveiled his “ Trump dividend ” pledge at the party’s unusual midterm convention in Dallas, there’s little evidence that Republicans in competitive races have incorporated it into their campaigns.
The pledge hasn’t been a staple of television advertising, whether from Trump’s own political operation or his party’s candidates. It usually only comes up when reporters ask about it, prompting most Republicans to sidestep the idea.
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A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as Trump has threatened.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said his ruling would “avoid any confusion on that score given more recent events,” including the building’s sudden closure to the public on Wednesday.
Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief operating officer, said he closed the iconic performing arts center temporarily due to “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration” of the aging building. The building will be closed for at least seven days to “assess existing safety risks in those portions of the main building exhibiting severe structural deterioration,” Floca said.
The temporary closure, which occurred without notice, is separate from a vote Tuesday by the Kennedy Center’s board to close the center indefinitely for repairs, Floca and other officials said. The closure was based on an inspection of the roof terrace canopy and a partial ceiling collapse earlier this month, Floca said. The closure may be extended after evaluation next week, he added.
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The top official at the U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that the agency has stopped work on developing a controversial computer system that was central to President Donald Trump’s effort to limit mail voting after the Supreme Court rejected his executive order this week.
“There’s an injunction so we’re not doing anything,” postmaster general David Steiner told The Associated Press in an interview.
Steiner, a one-time chief executive of Waste Management, has spent most of the past year atop the postal service navigating political and financial challenges. He’s pressing Congress for changes that would help him resolve what he's called a “liquidity crisis.”
And Trump’s efforts to largely eradicate mail voting turned the postal service into an unlikely arbiter of who's eligible to vote just months before this year’s critical midterm elections, a role Steiner seemingly had little interest in playing. Unlike Trump, who was sharply critical of the Supreme Court decision and ridiculed some of the justices, Steiner offered no assessment of the court’s action.
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