2022 midterm election results

More than three-quarters of Ohio voters said the nation’s economy was “poor” or “not so good,” according to the preliminary results of the Ohio Exit Poll conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research.

And nearly three-quarters of Buckeye State voters said inflation has caused their family severe or moderate hardship, with nearly 2 in 10 saying their difficulties were severe.

More than half of those who cast ballots said that President Joe Biden’s policies are hurting, while about one-third said they are helping.

The president is not that popular among Ohio voters – more than half disapprove of him, with more than 4 in 10 approving.

The top election official for the city of Milwaukee told reporters Tuesday evening that she expects an overall turnout of 70-75% of registered voters from that area of the state. 

Claire Woodall-Vogg, executive director of the City of Milwaukee Election Commission, told reporters that this is close to the same level of turnout as what was seen in 2018 and the number of absentee ballots will likely be lower than what was initially expected. 

Milwaukee is one of 38 municipalities in Wisconsin that processes its absentee ballots at a “central count,” or a single location, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

In Milwaukee and other central count cities, absentee votes are reported only after they are all counted, while elsewhere in the state, absentee and in-person votes are generally counted and reported at the same time. 

As of Tuesday morning, more than 60,000 voters in Milwaukee had returned absentee ballots, more than in any other municipality in the state. 

Woodall-Vogg said election workers at the Milwaukee central count are still on track to finish tallying the city’s absentee ballots by 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. CT on Tuesday night.

Based on early voting tallies coming in on two key races in Georgia, some voters are voting for one party's candidate in the Senate race, but then choosing another party's candidate in the gubernatorial race.

For example, Democratic nominee and Sen. Raphael Warnock has more actual votes than Democratic candidate for governor Stacey Abrams on the same ticket.

Early results show Warnock with about 80,000 more votes than Abrams, "meaning people are voting for Raphael Warnock, and then not voting for Abrams," CNN's John King explained, adding that some of those votes are going to Republican incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp.

This is visible specifically in Democratic-leaning Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, where GOP nominee Herschel Walker has fewer than 65,000 votes while Republican incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp has received about 79,000 votes so far.

The early numbers show "Herschel Walker underperforming the governor," King said in his analysis.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson spent Election Day in Oshkosh with his family after casting his ballot at the Oshkosh Town Hall with his wife, his campaign told CNN.

The Republican also spent time with his grandchildren and dialed into some GOTV radio hits and teletown halls with supporters. 

For his part, Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes spent the day in the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee, hopping from college campus to college campus to greet students at Milwaukee Area Technical College, UW-Milwaukee, and Marquette University.

He tweeted: “students at Marquette are fired up and ready to send Ron Johnson packing. So inspired by all of y’all and your determination to be the change you seek.”

If elected, Barnes would be the nation’s second-youngest senator — older only than Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff.

View Barnes' tweet:

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine will win reelection in Ohio, CNN projects, and defeat Democrat Nan Whaley.

It’s 7:30 p.m. ET, and polls are closing in the following states:  

See an hour-by-hour guide to Election Night poll closings here.

Republicans are asking a judge in Maricopa County to keep the polls open until 10 p.m. local time and to suspend the public release of any early ballot returns until 11 p.m. local time. 

The lawsuit against Maricopa County officials alleges that 36% of the county’s voting centers have seen excessive delays and long lines because of continuing malfunctions of ballot tabulation devices and printers. 

Maricopa County has debunked the claims of excessive delays, CNN's Daniel Dale has reported.

Additionally, the lawsuit claims that voters in some polling places were instructed by poll workers to discard their ballots when the tabulation device could not read their ballot and to go to another polling place where they were not necessarily registered. 

The lawsuit alleges that these voters were subsequently turned away at these polling places. CNN's Ella Nilsen reported earlier today that Maricopa County elections officials insisted that every vote would be counted, despite earlier tabulation issues that arose from a printer issue at about 60 vote centers. 

The lawsuit is asking the court to instruct all inspectors at polling locations to allow voters who may be recorded as previously voting, which could be in error because of earlier delays, to complete a provisional ballot for later potential processing.

The campaign team for J.D. Vance, the Republican candidate vying for the open Ohio Senate seat, is buzzing with excitement as the polls are on the verge of coming to a close.

A campaign source said they’re seeing low turnout in Cuyahoga County — a strongly Democratic county that includes Cleveland and went for Joe Biden in 2020. 

“We like what we’re seeing,” the Vance campaign source said.

Vance — who is watching the results from the Ohio GOP watch party tonight — has been popping in and out of the war room that his team has set up here at the hotel as they crunch numbers.

As he arrived on site at the hotel, Vance was all smiles and told CNN when asked how he is feeling, “We’re good, we’re good."

His campaign said they’ll start to get a better sense about 30 minutes after the polls close, but in Ohio, it’s all about three key cities: Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus.

Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Tim Ryan's team said the Cuyahoga suburbs look good, and they believe there is a potential data lag in Cleveland proper, where precincts are less staffed. 

Michigan Department of State spokesperson Jake Rollow said “things are going smoothly” with elections in the state.

Asked about recent statements from former President Donald Trump calling for protests in Detroit, Rollow said “we have prepared for this long before the former president issued his statements.” (Trump called for protests after a mishap at the polls on Tuesday morning in Detroit, which election officials called a “harmless data error.”)

When asked about an Ann Arbor poll watcher who was repeatedly issuing impermissible challenges, Rollow explained that the poll watcher was challenging voters who had brought in their blank absentee ballots to surrender before voting in-person, which is the appropriate process. Rollow was unsure if the poll watcher was “removed or simply asked to stop and they stopped,” but those challenges were stopped. 

For months, GOP activists have clamored about sending a barrage of poll-watchers to challenge ballots in battleground states. 

Separately, Detroit Election Administrator Daniel Baxton just announced to poll workers that the absentee counting board in Detroit has tabulated approximately 63,000 absentee ballots at this point.

Baxter said he is waiting for 2 more deliveries of absentee ballots to come in to this location later tonight.