Midterm elections live updates: Judge orders DOJ to halt threats to election workers

More than 2 million North Carolinians have cast ballots in the state's midterm election as of Wednesday evening, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

That marks a more than a 35% turnout increase compared to the same period in 2022, when approximately 1.6 million early votes were cast, according to election data.

The milestone also comes as early vote turnout surges among Black voters in North Carolina by more than 50% compared to roughly the same point in 2022, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Early voting in the state continues through Saturday.

-ABC News' Halle Troadec

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he is pre-deploying election-law attorneys to monitor vote counting in key California battleground congressional districts -- an effort that he said aims to protect from any interference by the Trump administration and to monitor vote counting.

Last month, Newsom signed election protection laws making it a felony to illegally seize ballots, election records or voting technology while votes are still being counted, or to directly interfere with mail ballot delivery.

Newsom's team said that attorneys and trained volunteers will be stationed at county election offices in key congressional districts, including the 6th District, 13th District, 22nd District, 45th District and 48th District, beginning Election Day and remaining for as long as necessary.

-ABC News' Juhi Doshi

Vice President Vance said on Thursday that it should be looked into whether or not Democratic Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola committed "election fraud" following the New York Times reporting about Democrats' alleged efforts to recruit Dan J. Sullivan -- a Republican who almost has the same name as incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan -- for the Alaska Senate race in an effort to sow confusion and ultimately benefit Peltola.

"Well, I think that we should certainly look into whether she committed election fraud," Vance said Thursday morning before boarding Air Force Two for a campaign event in Texas.

While legal experts say that recruiting spoiler candidates is not, in itself, illegal, Alaska’s Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered a state-led investigation into the effort to recruit candidates for the Senate race.

Alaska courts evaluated the dispute over Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy and found nothing illegal about his bid to be on the ballot -- even if it was not entirely in "good faith" or an attempt to "confuse and mislead" as the Trump administration and Republicans contend.

"Whether it's criminal or not, she certainly has committed, I think, a great moral failing, and hopefully the voters of Alaska punish her," Vance said.

-ABC News' Hannah Demissie

President Donald Trump is heading to Rock Hill, South Carolina, for a rally on Thursday, making his third trip to the state in recent months and his second trip since Labor Day.

Trump was last in South Carolina, which he won in all three presidential elections he ran in, last Wednesday for a rally. He was joined by Sen. Darline Graham, who is running for a full term after being appointed to finish out the late Lindsey Graham’s unfinished term, and other candidates.

Darline Graham is facing off against Democratic candidate and physician and Democratic candidate Annie Andrews in the Senate race.

A New York Times/Siena University poll published on Wednesday showed that likely voters are evenly split between supporting Andrews and Graham, with 48% supporting each. South Carolina has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998 and Trump won the state by 18 percentage points in 2024.)

-ABC News' Oren Oppenheim