What is on the ballot

Polls are open across the United States today in midterm elections that will decide who controls the US Senate and House of Representatives, both of which the Republicans currently hold. Donald Trump has spent the closing stretch staging several dozen rallies around the country, urging his Maga base to back Republican candidates as if his own name were on the ballot.

Democrats have framed the vote as a chance for a "blue wave" powered by Trump's falling popularity, and history points the same way: the party holding the White House typically loses congressional seats at midterms.

Last-minute splits and schemes

The final hours brought cross-party drama in Michigan. Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed his Republican rival Mike Rogers on Sunday. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer described the move as "a despicable betrayal"; it followed a feud over an outside group's advertisement blaming cost-of-living problems on US support for Israel.

El-Sayed pressed on with his campaign, telling hundreds of supporters in Royal Oak, Michigan on Monday: "Whatever they're trying to distract you, it's because they're picking your pocket."

In Alaska, Democratic candidate Mary Peltola denied any knowledge of a reported scheme to recruit a challenger with almost the same name as Republican senator Dan Sullivan.

The races to watch

Democrats have targeted Republican-held Senate seats in several states, including:

• •Ohio, one of the party's targets among Republican-held seats
• •Texas, where final New York Times/Siena University polls published Sunday put the Democratic candidate ahead - despite voters there not sending a Democrat to the Senate since 1988
• •Kansas, where polling also favoured the Democrat, although the state has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932
• •Maine, another Republican-held seat on the party's target list

Overall, the final Times/Siena surveys placed Democratic candidates ahead in five of seven key battleground contests. Opinion polling has consistently suggested Democrats are well positioned to win the House, while the Senate remains a tougher proposition.

Monitoring and unanswered questions

The justice department plans to deploy a record 1,000 election monitors to polling stations across the country, a move critics have denounced as voter intimidation. Under attorney general Todd Blanche, the department has also pursued cases, including claims of mass voting by non-US citizens, that opponents say cast doubt on the election's integrity.

The Alaska name-scheme dispute reached the courts as well: the justice department filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of the state's Senate results in the event of a Republican defeat, citing potential voter confusion, but a judge has dismissed the case.

One question remains open as voting proceeds: whether Trump will accept the results if they do not go the Republicans' way.