[８日 ロイター] – The US midterm elections closed on the 8th in some states, and the counting of votes began. It will be interesting to see if Republicans regain control of Congress and gain the power to block many of President Biden’s policies over the next two years.
While the ruling Democratic Party has raised issues such as abortion rights and the weakening of democracy in the election campaign, concerns over rising inflation and crime are of high interest among voters, and the president’s party and the majority party in Congress A different “divided government” is more likely.
Exit polls by Edison Research found that inflation and abortion were the top concerns among voters, with three in 10 choosing one or the other.
Thirty-five seats in the Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be contested in the midterm elections. Republicans are expected to add the five seats they need to win back the majority in the House. Democrats have a de facto majority in the Senate, which is tied 50-50, but could be overturned depending on results in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona.
Amid the vote, a senior U.S. cybersecurity official said Wednesday that there was “no specific or credible threat” to disrupt election infrastructure during the U.S. Congressional midterm elections.
On the other hand, in Arizona, a battleground state, dozens of electronic vote tallying machines malfunctioned after the voting began, and former President Trump and Republican supporters took advantage of the problem to once again accuse the Democratic Party of electoral fraud. .
It could take days or weeks to find out the results of the battleground states.
More than 46 million voters voted early by mail or at a polling place, according to US Election Project data. State election officials say it will take time to count all these ballots. Georgia is expected to hold a runoff election on Dec. 6, and the Senate majority may not be decided until then.