Voters across the United States went to the polls on Tuesday as the 2026 midterm elections put control of Congress at stake, with scenes from polling stations reflecting a day of participation, anticipation and public unease.
In Chicago, people filled out their ballots at McKinley Park Library, while voters in St Louis cast their votes at Wild Carrot, an event space in the city’s Shaw neighbourhood.
Election preparations began before dawn in Fairfax, Virginia, where an official put up “VOTE” signs at the county government centre to guide people to the polling room.
At Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School in Herndon, Virginia, five-year-old Tyler Prehn inserted his father’s ballot into a tabulating machine as his three-year-old brother, Levi, watched.
Polling places were also open in public buildings and schools across the country. Voters used electronic stations at Hastings City Hall in Minnesota, while others queued at University Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas.
In Manchester, Connecticut, a voter collected an “I Voted” sticker after casting a ballot at the local high school. A large “VOTE” sign hung from a balcony outside Hartford City Hall, which was also being used as a polling place.
Some communities combined voting with local initiatives to bring people together. Near Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, sandwiches and biscuits were handed out from a food truck as part of a non-partisan “Party at the Polls” event.
In San Francisco, voters dropped off ballots outside the City Hall Voting Centre, adding to the varied picture of how Americans were taking part in the election.
The day also carried particular significance in Minneapolis, where Peg Ihinger photographed herself leaving her early voting sticker at a memorial for Alex Pretti.
Pretti and Renée Good, both 37 and residents of Minneapolis, were killed in separate incidents involving US Customs and Border Protection officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge in January.
“I just want this nightmare to end for our city and our country,” Ihinger said. “And damn it, they shouldn’t have died.”
In Washington DC’s Columbia Heights neighbourhood, the words “NATL GUARD 50 FT BACK” were marked on a pavement, another sign of the tensions surrounding the election.
From ballot machines and queues to stickers, signs and memorials, election-day scenes across the country captured voters taking part in a contest that could determine which party controls Congress.
