Midterm polls and news: Oz and Fetterman call for backup and early vote numbers surge

The previous early voting record for a midterm election was 2.1 million ballots cast either early in-person or by mail in 2018. This year’s election appears to have beaten that by approximately 20 per cent according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

In the 2020 presidential election, just over 4 million Georgians voted early.

With his party’s control over Congress teetering on the brink, President Joe Biden has traveled the country this fall trying to turn the midterm elections into a choice between two visions for America. On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to stick with his outlook or take the country in a different direction.

Biden is dealing with difficult challenges in elections that will set the dynamics for the rest of his first term. Presidents tend to see their party suffer major setbacks in their second year in office, and in addition, Biden is saddled with a cloudy economic picture and the limits of his own popularity.

In the campaign’s closing sprint, Biden has tried to rely on a message that has promotes his accomplishments — many of which will take years to be truly felt — and warns of the consequences of a GOP takeover of Congress.

Twitter will delay the rollout of their new system of verification check marks to subscribers of its $7.99 per month subscription service until after the US midterm elections on Tuesday, according to report by The New York Times.

The Times cites an internal post and two people with knowledge of the decision. The Independent has contacted Twitter for confirmation of the report.

Former president Barack Obama has warned “democracy itself is at stake” in the upcoming US midterm elections.

Mr Obama gave an impassioned speech from Philadelphia where he was campaigning for Democratic candidates John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro on Saturday (5 November).

“Truth and facts, logic and reason, and basic decency are on the ballot. Democracy itself is on the ballot. The stakes are high” he told a cheering crowd.

Mr Obama hit out at Mr Fetterman’s GOP rival Dr. Mehmet Oz, who previously claimed “local political leaders” should be involved in a women’s decision to have an abortion.

“Women should be able to control what happens to their own bodies” Mr Obama said.

Mr Trump mockingly referred to his onetime ally, who won the Sunshine State’s 2018 gubernatorial election after earning the then-president’s endorsement, as “Ron DeSanctimonious” while discussing his standing in the polls during a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

While Democrats and Republicans will no doubt turn out to the polls in high numbers, some independent voters may not be aware that they can vote in the midterms.

The reason for the confusion may come from the fact that many states do not allow independents to vote in primary elections, where parties choose who will represent them in races decided in the midterms and general elections.

Mr Trump mentioned Ms Pelosi while speaking at a rally in Miami for Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

Former President Donald Trump took the stage in Miami just after 4pm eastern on Sunday.

Mr Trump urged his supporters in his opening remarks to vote for incumbent Senator Marco Rubio — as well as Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, whom he had derided just a day earlier.

Allies of Florida Gov Ron DeSantis are fuming after Donald Trump finally took the gloves off and hit his likely 2024 rival with just days to go before the midterms.

At a rally Saturday night, Mr Trump referred to the governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious” during his remarks before thousands of supporters.

Veteran CBS News political correspondent Robert Costa reported on Sunday: “Several DeSantis allies, some also close to Trump, texted last night and this morning, unprompted, expressing private anger and even disgust w/ Trump for his remarks about the Florida governor. Say they’re telling DeS. and his family, and his top aides, to still move [towards a] ‘24 bid.”

Joe Manchin, the centrist holdout senator whose vote has vexed President Joe Biden for months on key issues, is once again turning his fire on his party with just days to go until the election.

Mr Manchin’s latest ire seems to have been triggered by comments made by Mr Biden in California in support of the CHIPS Act, where the president appeared to declare that the US was on a path towards further shutting down fossil fuel plants and replacing them with green energy sources.

“Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure. It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day. Politicizing our nation’s energy policies would only bring higher prices and more pain for the American people,” Mr Manchin said, calling Mr Biden’s remarks “outrageous and divorced from reality”.