It’s Election Day across the country and more news from the states

It’s Election Day, readers! Today, millions of Americans will head to the polls to cast their ballots in an election that will shape the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency.

While much of the attention on today’s midterm elections has focused on control of Congress, voters across the country will also choose which party controls the levers of state power. Nationwide, more than 6,000 legislative seats are up for grabs, leaving the partisan control of numerous chambers hanging in the balance, Stateline reports. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s final attempt to force California to set aside the ballots of 20,000 people it suspects are noncitizens, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports.

Visit our website for real-time, on-the ground reporting in our live blog and more election coverage. Check out this video, in which States Newsroom democracy reporter Jonathan Shorman shares what we’re watching for today. And finally, follow us on Bluesky and Instagram for updates. 

Tennessee: A Nashville judge temporarily blocked state officials from denying driver’s licenses and license renewals to immigrants authorized by the federal government to live and work in the United States. 

Utah: Republican Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has issued an emergency declaration to accommodate San Juan County voters with electronic voting after severe flooding events over the past several days overwhelmed the rural area, in which distances are long and travel has become hazardous.

Colorado: Democratic Gov. Jared Polis released his final budget proposal, once again calling for the Legislature to significantly restrict Medicaid growth in the state. The governor, who is in the last few months of his term, wants to limit program growth to 4.3% during the next budget year.

Oklahoma: Some state Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical about the process the secretary of state’s office used to strike tens of thousands of signatures from a citizen-led initiative petition. The agency has been unwilling to explain why each of the more than 57,000 signatures were rejected.

West Virginia: Many low-income state residents will soon be required to meet two sets of work requirements: one to keep healthcare and another for food assistance, according to an analysis from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. 

Indiana: The waitlist for a childcare voucher declined from 41,175 children in May to 9,006 children at the end of October — a 78% decline Republican Gov. Mike Braun credits to a major investment by his administration following a year-and-a-half hiatus for new sign-ups.

New Mexico: Unrelenting rainfall in the northern part of the state prompted additional flooding in areas already inundated, along with numerous evacuation orders for those near the banks of the San Juan, La Plata, Animas and Chama rivers.

See the rest of the news of the day from all 50 states, plus our D.C. Bureau and Stateline, on News From The States.

Tens of millions of Americans have already cast a ballot in the 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress and shape President Donald Trump’s remaining policy agenda, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

As of Monday, more than 57 million Americans had voted, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, which tracks early voting. This year’s elections have already shattered the record for midterm early voting, set in 2022, in which nearly 46 million Americans voted early. 

Polls close between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time on Election Day. Under federal law, as long as voters are in line when the polls close, they can still cast their ballots. 

Trump came into his second term with his party in control of both chambers of Congress. But historically, the president’s party loses seats in the midterm elections, and this cycle appears unlikely to be an exception.

Elections forecasters have favored Democrats to win back the majority in the U.S. House, which would allow them to significantly rein in Trump’s legislative agenda. Analysts have also increasingly predicted Democrats could win control of the U.S. Senate could, which would allow them to block appointments, including a potential U.S. Supreme Court vacancy.

The ACLU of Iowa has won a preliminary injunction that clears the way for The Satanic Temple to stage a holiday event next month in the Iowa Capitol rotunda, Iowa Capital Dispatch reports.

In August, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the state over its repeated refusal to grant permission for the temple to stage what the ACLU calls “a family-friendly winter holiday event.” The ACLU of Iowa cited the fact that other religious and civic groups are allowed to stage events in the rotunda.

Shefali Aurora, ACLU of Iowa staff attorney, said that “state officials have made it clear that they denied The Satanic Temple permission to hold events in the Capitol rotunda because they disagreed with their religious viewpoint.”

The lawsuit has sought to have the court declare that state officials’ denials violated The Satanic Temple’s constitutional rights under the First and 14th amendments as well as its rights under the Iowa Civil Rights Act and Iowa Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

In agreeing to issue a preliminary injunction in the case, Chief Judge Stephanie M. Rose noted that in December 2023, The Satanic Temple was permitted to hold a holiday display in the rotunda, alongside other holiday displays such as a Christian nativity scene.

Beginning in 2024 and continuing through 2026, the state denied The Satanic Temple’s applications.