Midterm Voting: Early ballots surge in key states

Midterm election campaigns intensified on Friday as President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton addressed separate crowds in the South. Both leaders urged voters to cast ballots in the November contest that will determine which party controls Congress.

Trump spoke to Republican supporters in Daytona Beach, Florida. He called the upcoming vote the most important in history. Clinton addressed Democrats in Tupelo, Mississippi, two states away. He cited a past remark by Republican President George W. Bush regarding democracy being self-correcting. Clinton asked the crowd to support Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom.

Voting data shows a sharp rise in early participation. An Associated Press analysis found that nearly 10 million more Americans had cast ballots five days before Election Day compared to the same point in 2022. The increase is pronounced in states with competitive Senate races. Early voting in Iowa and Kansas is up roughly 30 percent. Trump plans to visit both states on Sunday.

In Alaska, U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman confirmed a criminal investigation into a ballot dispute. The probe targets a candidate named Dan J. Sullivan who shares a name with the incumbent Republican senator, Dan Sullivan. Law enforcement assets were sent to the state this week following reports that the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola was involved in recruiting the second Sullivan. Peltola denied knowledge of the effort on Thursday. The Justice Department said it wants to test the level of confusion among voters who rank the duplicate name.

Trump altered his campaign schedule in the final week. He briefly suggested he would hold telerallies and cancel trips to Iowa and Kansas. He then rescheduled in-person rallies for both states on Sunday. At his Friday rally, Trump told gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds that the 28 days of campaigning were exhausting. He said he thought he could relax after the previous day.

In Michigan, Democratic tensions resurfaced. Rep. Haley Stevens appeared on CNN to say she would vote for her primary opponent, Abdul El-Sayed. She called on him to repair relations with Jewish and Black voters. Hours later, Stevens said her fiancé would vote for the Republican opponent, Mike Rogers. On Friday, Stevens released a statement criticizing El-Sayed. She accused him of linking U.S. support for Israel to rising grocery prices in an advertisement. El-Sayed responded by asking Democrats to focus on defeating Rogers.

Texas recorded more than 6.3 million early votes as of Wednesday. That figure is a 50 percent increase over the same period in 2022. South Carolina saw an 83 percent increase in early voting as voters choose a successor to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, and Kansas all reported early voting increases of more than 30 percent.