Mid-term elections in America have entered the final phase, the first polling stations have already closed in several states. Voter turnout is expected to be quite high in these midterm presidential elections, which could decide the fate of the next president in 2024, News.ro reports.

RENEWAL. Polls closed at 6:00 p.m. local time (Wednesday, 1:00 a.m. Romanian time) in six states: Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia.

However, polling station closing times are not the same in all states. In addition, there is also a time zone difference between the East and West coasts of the United States.

The Republican leader in the House of Representatives prepares his victory speech

RENEWAL. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and his team have been working on a victory speech for the past two weeks as he is extremely confident they will take back the House in Tuesday’s election.

Although he has prepared phrases, he is expected to improvise. His team expects him to take the stage at 23:00 local time (Wednesday, 5:00 Romanian time) if everything goes as expected.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and possibly former House Speaker Newt Gingrich could also speak.

McCarthy has raised a huge amount of money in recent months and campaigned in about 40 states — even for two Republican challengers in Virginia, Jen Kiggans and Hong Cao, who Republicans hope will help him regain his majority.

McCarthy’s goal is to win at least 20 seats in the House. If they overcome this barrier, they will consider that it was a very good election that gives them a comfortable majority. If the party wins fewer seats in the House of Representatives, Republicans will not have as strong an image as they had hoped, which could spell trouble for advancing their own agenda in Congress.

If the Republicans get a majority, McCarthy will become the new leader of the House of Representatives, who will take the place of the current speaker, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat.

Voting incidents

RENEWAL. Several polling stations in various states have announced they will extend voting hours due to technical delays.

Queues formed at other polling stations.

On the other hand, Ohio officials are working to counter a slew of misinformation spreading on social media about faulty polling places and voting machines.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose gave the example of a message that claimed the voting machines had broken down at a polling place and that the sheriff had to be called. The secretary of state tweeted that all the machines were “functioning properly” and that the sheriff was called due to “an isolated incident of harassment of a precinct officer by an individual.” The situation was resolved peacefully,” the official said.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has responded to a viral tweet that claimed the location of Ohio’s polling places was made at the last minute. The District Election Commission found the tweet false as all the seats were confirmed two months ago.

RENEWAL. A man was arrested Tuesday afternoon after he threatened voters with a knife in suburban Milwaukee, briefly shutting down a polling place.

Police in West Bend, Wis., responded around 12:35 a.m. local time to reports of a man armed with a knife at the West Bend Memorial Library, where the polling station is located. The man asked employees to “stop the vote,” the West Bend Police Department said in a news release.

According to the police, the 38-year-old man, whose identity the authorities have not established, was detained without resistance.

Voting at this polling station was suspended for about half an hour.

RENEWAL. Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, a key voting district, said voting machines at about a fifth of the 223 polling stations rejected ballots in the first hours after the polls opened.

According to county officials, the problem was related to entering passwords too many times, which triggered security features. As of 10:00 a.m. local time, the issues had been resolved and officials did not anticipate any delays in the voting process.

RENEWAL. Officials in Florida, a Republican stronghold, have warned the US Justice Department that state law prohibits federal election observers from entering polling places, rejecting plans by the federal administration to have observers in the state.

In a letter to the Department of Justice on Monday, Florida officials said that federal officials are not on the list of authorized persons at the polls and, even if they did meet the qualifications, “would be counterproductive and could undermine the credibility of the election.”

The Department of Justice announced that it intends to send election observers to 24 states, including three Florida counties – Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. The practice of sending federal election observers to local jurisdictions dates back decades, according to CNN.

But the department “failed to detail the need for federal monitors in these counties,” Florida Department of State General Counsel Brad McVeigh said in a letter to the Justice Department. According to the letter, the Florida Department of State will send observers to the three counties to “ensure that there is no interference with the voting process.”

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd has been appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for re-election.

Former President Donald Trump also voted in Palm Beach, Florida, who openly told reporters that he voted for DeSantis.

What does this election mean for Biden and Trump?

History shows that presidents-elect almost always face a backlash in midterm elections two years later. Therefore, at the beginning of their mandate, they defined the main legislative priorities.

If Democrats don’t fare as badly as some fear, Joe Biden will get a boost as he considers re-election. If Republicans win by a landslide, his 2024 presidential prospects will be in doubt. President Biden will turn 80 in a few weeks, which is a reason to celebrate, but also an unwelcome reminder of his own political responsibilities, CNN writes.

However, the president’s prospects are not entirely gloomy. His two Democratic predecessors, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, were severely punished by voters in the midterm elections, but then recovered and were easily re-elected two years later. The question is whether Joe Biden still has the energy and political savvy to take on a Republican Congress with ultra-conservative elected officials.

As for former President Donald Trump, he made this election a test of loyalty for Republicans, some of whom were forced to pay for supporting him by ramping up false claims of fraud in the 2020 election. Some Republican leaders would prefer Trump to stay out of the election altogether, but the former president’s strategy appears to be quite different.

Trump played a key role in 2018 as he faced his own midterm elections, losing the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Then he lost the presidential election in 2020. He can still be dealt a bad hand. The candidates he has supported in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio face a tough task in the race against Democratic challengers.

But if Republicans win Tuesday night, Trump will take the credit. And if they do not live up to expectations, he will not hesitate to blame everyone else or continue his theses about election fraud.

Regardless, the former president already appears set to run again in 2024 – a campaign that could still face obstacles as he risks being indicted in the case of classified documents found in his personal residence or for other potential abuses after the 2020 election. This prospect also depends largely on the new configuration of Congress.

A Republican victory on Tuesday, especially in the House of Representatives, would mean that two years after he left Washington, “Trumpism” would be back in power.

RENEWAL. Early voting has already surpassed 2018’s pace in every state where data was available for the last three election rounds.

Texas has the most early voting, with more than 5.4 million ballots already cast. More than 4.9 million early voters voted in Florida and more than 4.7 million in California. Georgia, with more than 2.5 million voters, and North Carolina, with more than 2.1 million, are the only other states with more than 2 million ballots cast to date.