(NEXSTAR) – Polls are now open across the country in the 2022 midterm elections as Americans cast their ballots to decide, among other things, which party will control Congress.
Every U.S. House seat is up for election this year, along with about a third of the U.S. Senate, and the results of the election will have massive implications when it comes to President Joe Biden's ambitions for the rest of his first term.
Democratic hopes of keeping the House are waning, but the president's party is banking on several close Senate races going their way, allowing the Democrats to maintain a narrow majority in one of the two chambers. Democrats have held the House since the 2018 election during former President Donald Trump's administration, but the increasingly-likely Republican takeover would halt Biden's agenda.
The Senate, which Democrats hold with the slimmest of advantages, could go either way. At stake is control over moving forward presidential appointments, like judges and Cabinet officials, as well as legislation. As chief executive, Biden will retain his veto power regardless of how control of Congress turns out.
DOJ to monitor voting sites in 24 states
The Department of Justice said Monday that it would be monitoring election sites in counties across 24 states to make sure that voting rights laws are observed.
"Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Division has regularly monitored elections in the field in jurisdictions around the country to protect the rights of voters," the DOJ stated on its website.
The states included in that list are:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- Nevada
- New York
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
Monitors from both the Civil Rights Division and from U.S. Attorneys' Offices will join the effort.
"Complaints related to disruption at a polling place should always be reported immediately to local election officials (including officials in the polling place)," the DOJ stated. "Complaints related to violence, threats of violence or intimidation at a polling place should be reported immediately to local police authorities by calling 911."
When will we know the results of the 2022 midterms?
When all the votes are finally tallied will vary from state to state.
Local time is a factor – Hawaii's polls won't close until 12:00 a.m. Wednesday EST, for instance – but there are other variables that will determine when the last ballot is counted.
Not all states vote the same, either: Some carry out voting only by mail, while others have a mix of in-person and mail voting. Others also have early in-person voting periods.
There is no federal government agency that tells the country who has won the election right away, and different states count ballots at different times. That means it could take longer to declare a winner in some spots. Varying rules on when recounts or runoff elections might be required could also factor in.
Some states, such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for example, don't allow officials to begin validating mail-in votes until Election Day. Other states allow grace periods for votes to be counted as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.
All of this means that we likely will not know who won every race on election night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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