With control of Congress on the line and the country deeply divided, Americans lined up Tuesday to vote in the 2026 midterm elections. Photographers at NPR member stations spent the day capturing scenes from polling places in their communities, and NPR gathered the images into a collection.
Many of the moments were small and familiar. Voters filled out ballots at a public library in Chicago's McKinley Park neighborhood. In Fairfax County, Virginia, an election worker taped "VOTE" signs to a wall to point people toward the polling room. In St. Louis, people voted at an event space in the Shaw neighborhood.
Some of the photos featured families. At an elementary school in Herndon, Virginia, 5-year-old Tyler Prehn fed his father's ballot into the tabulating machine while his 3-year-old brother, Levi, watched.
In Des Moines, Iowa, a woman handed out sandwiches and cookies to voters from a food truck. Voters in San Francisco dropped off ballots outside the City Hall voting center. A large "VOTE" banner hung from a balcony at Hartford City Hall in Connecticut, and in Manchester, Connecticut, a voter picked up an "I Voted" sticker at the local high school.
Other images reflected the tensions of the year. In Minneapolis, a woman left her early voting sticker at a memorial for Alex Pretti. Pretti and Renée Good, both 37 and from Minneapolis, were killed in separate incidents involving federal immigration and border officers during a January enforcement operation. "I just want this nightmare to end for our city and our country," she said.
In Washington's Columbia Heights neighborhood, a sidewalk marking read "NATL GUARD 50 FT BACK." Voters also waited in line at a church in Austin, Texas, and at polling sites in Minnesota and Boston.
Raw 100.5 will keep following results as polls close and votes are counted.
Sources: NPR and member stations