Photos: Americans Vote In Laundromats, Schools And Libraries

An election worker places a sign outside a polling station in El Paso, Texas, just before polls open on November 8, 2022 [LM Otero/AP Photo] Published On 8 Nov 2022 8 Nov 2022

Americans were voting on Tuesday in a key election that will decide whether Republicans end the Democratic Party’s hold on Washington and take back the House and Senate.

The balloting marks the first major national elections since the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the US Supreme Court’s decision this past June to end constitutional protection of abortion rights.

All 435 seats in the narrowly held House and one-third of the evenly divided Senate are being decided, alongside governorships and state and local positions.

Emotions were raw as people stood outside libraries, fitness centres, laundromats and fire stations to begin casting ballots. From Lewiston, Maine, to rainy Pacoima, California, they held infants in their arms and wore uniforms, suits and workout clothes as they waited to vote.

Many said inflation, abortion, crime and the future of democracy weighed heavily on their minds.

A man sets up a sign shortly before doors open to voters at a fire station in New Gloucester, Maine. [Robert F Bukaty/AP Photo]

A woman fills out her ballot at the New Life Worship Center Church of God in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania. [Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo] <img alt="Voters line up to cast their ballots in the midterm election at the Aspray Boat House in Warwick, R.I" aria-label="Gallery image 4 of 10, Click to open in gallery view, Voters line up to cast their ballots in the midterm election at the Aspray Boat House in Warwick, R.I" loading="lazy" role="button" src="http://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/AP22312450736077-1.jpg?fit=1170%2C780" tabindex="0">

Voters line up to cast their ballots at the Aspray Boat House in Warwick, Rhode Island. [David Goldman/AP Photo]

A voter casts her ballot at an electronic counting machine at a polling site in the Brooklyn Museum. [John Minchillo/AP Photo] <img alt="Members of the Orthodox Jewish community stand in line to register to vote at a polling center." aria-label="Gallery image 6 of 10, Click to open in gallery view, Members of the Orthodox Jewish community stand in line to register to vote at a polling center." loading="lazy" role="button" src="http://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/AP22312539041382.jpg?fit=1170%2C780" tabindex="0">

Members of the Orthodox Jewish community stand in line to register to vote at a polling centre in the Brooklyn borough of New York. [Wong Maye-E/AP Photo]

A poll worker sets up a voting booth in front of dryers at the Su Nueva Lavanderia near Chicago's Midway Airport. [Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo]

Members of Mariachi America perform for voters early on Tuesday morning in downtown Denver. [David Zalubowski/AP Photo]

Election workers process mail-in ballots for the midterm elections in Philadelphia. [Matt Rourke/AP Photo] <img alt="A signs promoting a candidate for Fort Myers Beach town council sits amid debris near an American Flag." aria-label="Gallery image 10 of 10, Click to open in gallery view, A signs promoting a candidate for Fort Myers Beach town council sits amid debris near an American Flag." loading="lazy" role="button" src="http://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/AP22312536594960.jpg?fit=1170%2C780" tabindex="0">

A sign promoting a candidate for Fort Myers Beach town council sits amid debris near an American flag, along a roadside on Estero Island, Florida, which was heavily damaged in September's Hurricane Ian. [Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo] Read More