Over the summer, we asked you to submit your most pressing questions about the US midterm elections. You asked about voter eligibility checks, threats to election officials or results, the effects of redistricting and which races are most likely to determine control of Congress.

Here are Reuters reporters’ answers to these questions, which were also published in the Politics US Newsletter. Similar questions have been combined and edited for clarity.

If you have more questions related to the midterms or other topics related to US politics, write to campaigntrail@thomsonreuters.com.

Answered by: Nathan Layne, Politics Reporter, and Jason Lange, Politics Data Reporter Our Reuters/Ipsos polling suggests that rising prices, exacerbated by the war with Iran, are having an outsized impact on the midterm environment. About half of voters say the cost of living is the single most important issue in the congressional elections, compared with roughly 1 in 5 who cite democratic norms and about 1 in 10 who point to immigration.

That focus on inflation extends across the major expenses that dominate household budgets, from housing and healthcare to food and fuel. Gasoline prices, pushed higher by the conflict, and the elevated cost of grocery staples such as coffee and beef are particularly potent politically because voters encounter them regularly at the pump and checkout counter.

Starting this past summer, our polling has shown that, for the first time in a decade, voters view Democrats as better stewards of the economy than Republicans. Against that backdrop, Republican strategists and party officials say they are seeking to frame the midterms as a choice between two parties, casting Democrats as increasingly influenced by socialist ideas, rather than a referendum on current economic conditions.

Answered by Jason Lange, Politics Data Reporter Democrats face an uphill fight to win the Senate, where they need to pick up four seats. They would have to hold Michigan and New Hampshire – both tight races – while flipping four of six Republican-held seats in play: Alaska, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa and Texas – the last two of which haven't elected Democrats to the Senate in over a decade.

Republicans face more pressure in the House, where their 218 members hold the smallest possible majority in the 435-seat chamber. About three dozen races nationwide are competitive. Democrats' best pickup chances include Republican-held seats in Nebraska's 2nd District, New Jersey's 7th and California's 48th, where district boundaries were redrawn to favor Democrats. Democrats must also defend Ohio's 9th and North Carolina's 1st, both redrawn to favor Republicans.

Answered by Joseph Ax, National Affairs Correspondent Under federal law, every state must retain a statewide list of registered voters and perform regular maintenance on it to remove ineligible voters. In addition, US law requires first-time voters in federal elections who registered by mail to show some form of identification at the polls, such as a driver’s license, a paycheck or a utility bill.

Many states have imposed additional, more stringent procedures to verify eligibility, such as photo ID requirements, and those policies vary significantly among states. Votes cast by mail, which have come under frequent baseless attacks from Trump as unreliable, are typically checked by comparing the signature on the envelope with the one on file.

All available evidence indicates that ineligible voting, including noncitizen voting, is exceedingly rare. A Reuters investigation this year found just 129 cases in which noncitizens were federally charged with voting illegally; many appeared to stem from voter confusion or administrative errors, rather than intentional fraud.

The conservative Heritage Foundation think tank maintains a voter fraud database that includes just 1,619 cases from 1982 to 2025, or one for every 817,625 votes cast in a presidential election during that time.

Answered by Peter Eisler, Ned Parker, Linda So andMike Spector Reuters interviewed more than 50 state and local election officials from both political parties, including a dozen secretaries of state, the top election officials in their states. Nearly all said they are adopting new strategies to prepare for political interference, misinformation, cyberattacks and even threats of violence ahead of the midterms. Their efforts span jurisdictions large and small, in areas controlled by Republicans and Democrats. In Michigan, for example, state officials are advising local clerks on the appropriate response if the federal government demands access to voting machines.

Preparations fall into three categories. Some election officials are hiring lawyers or seeking legal skills, as over a dozen interviewees said. Twice that many election officials said they are expanding public outreach and social media campaigns to counter misinformation around the reliability of mail-in voting or voting machines. Most of the interviewed officials said they are scrambling to fill gaps left by the Trump administration’s cuts to programs that help safeguard elections from cyberattacks and physical security threats.

That includes ongoing work to fortify election offices with camera systems and bulletproof glass – a trend that began after Trump disputed his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, prompting violent threats by Trump supporters against election workers.

Read our reporting on more specific examples of what election officials are doing in preparation for such potential scenarios in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado and Maine.

Nine states have new US House maps in place after the redistricting war that unfolded over the last year. Republicans were the clear winners: the party gained an advantage in 15 districts across those states, while Democrats improved their chances in only 6 districts. However, Democrats remain favored to win the House, with Trump’s weak approval ratings dragging down his party’s candidates.

There are about 40 seats in play in November out of 435 nationwide, meaning that a small fraction of voters will likely determine which party controls the House.

While some of the maps still face legal challenges, none of the litigation appears likely to alter any district lines ahead of November’s election.

Reuters reporters Bianca Flowers,David Hood-Nuño and Ally J. Levine mapped how redistricting has affected communities in Memphis, Tennessee.