US midterms begin with chaos over mail-voting crackdown

The US midterm elections have begun amidst confusion over mail voting rules. A federal judge has extended a temporary block on President Trump's plan to impose new restrictions on mail ballots, which had been blocked by the judge previously.

Voters and election officials are still uncertain about the rules governing millions of mail ballots. Trump has asked the Supreme Court to revive the curbs. States are scrambling to prepare for potential changes that could come after voting has begun.

North Carolina has become the first state authorised to begin sending out ballots. The election season will culminate on November 3 and determine control of Congress for the final two years of Trump's term. According to the New Straits Times, whistleblower allegations have raised concerns about a new Postal Service verification system, which could delay or disqualify batches of ballots due to a single barcode problem.

Brief written by urgent.news from Le Monde English, New Straits Times — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.