By Kimberly Atkins Stohr

I will be watching the Senate elections in Michigan and Maryland closely to see what the trend is of moderate Republicans and ticket-splitting voters. These elections are not only crucial for party control in the upper house of Congress. They may serve as a harbinger of things to come for moderate Republicans within the Maga-dominated national GOP.

In Michigan, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate, faces Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, while in Maryland, former Gov. Larry Hogan, the Republican candidate, faces Democrat Angela Alsobrook, the county executive. Both Democrats are experienced and well-resourced.

To appeal to undecided voters, Hogan and Rogers distanced themselves from — and sometimes even openly criticized — former President Donald Trump. They are by no means Never Trumpers — both have been willing to cozy up to the former president when it suited their political needs. But they don’t wear red trucker caps either. Can they somehow eliminate enough Harris voters to achieve victory? And then, what if they help give MAGA the keys to leadership in the Senate? Will they remain as independent as they claim?

By Renée Graham

Before Tuesday, more than 1.6 million Massachusetts residents had already voted in advance or by mail. But some people I spoke with said they preferred to wait. “I love voting on Election Day,” said Alysha Collins of Jamaica Plain. “I love the feeling of it all. I don’t like voting early, I don’t like mailing in. I just want to be part of the whole process and then go home and watch it all night.

Ariel Nelson had originally planned to vote by mail, but she never received the requested ballot. Still, she didn’t mind arriving at 8 a.m. to vote. “I love voting in person,” she said. “I love the feeling of community. I like the sticker. I love everyone’s collective enthusiasm, but also the deep anxiety.

By Carine Hajjar

The story of the election is that young women are moving left, and young men – especially men in the online manosphere – are moving right. Today in Nashua I met two voters who go against this trend. Jake Randall, a 33-year-old full-time video game YouTuber, votes blue. Some young people leave the left because they feel it punishes masculinityRandall believes that “if you’re truly masculine, you don’t need to prove it to anyone.” Marissa Horton, a 20-year-old stay-at-home mom, told me she was once a “blue-haired liberal” but now: “I think the economy is just going to seek to vote Republican, rather than giving money to people. who entered the country illegally.

By Jeff Jacoby

What if they held an election and no candidates ran against each other?

At the top of every Massachusetts ballot today were the U.S. Presidential and Senate elections. For most Bay State voters, that was more or less where the ability to choose between candidates began and ended. On my ballot in Brookline Ward 6For example, every other office listed – U.S. Representative, Governor’s Counsel, State Senator, State Representative, Clerk of Courts, Register of Deeds and County Commissioner – featured Democrats unopposed. Only the five statewide election questions provided a measure of real competition.

Every two years, the nonpartisan political research company Ballotpedia evaluates each state’s electoral competitiveness. It is latest report ranks Massachusetts dead last — that’s where it has ranked in every election cycle for the past 10 years. Of the nine Democrats representing Massachusetts in the House of Representatives, only two faced Republican challengers. Of the 200 seats in the state legislature, only 40 – a paltry 1 in 5 – were contested by the two major parties. And in only a handful of them were the results a foregone conclusion.

Are you part of the minority of citizens who voted for a candidate in a truly competitive race in Massachusetts? If so, I congratulate you. Here in what is sometimes called the “cradle of American democracy,” you must do something today that most of us can only dream of.

By Alan Wirzbicki

One of my earliest memories is voting for Walter Mondale with my father at a local fire station in 1984. As I recall, he let me pull the lever on the voting machine, adding thus an additional voice to Mondale’s historic performance.

So now that my daughter is almost the same age as I was at the time, I was excited to take her with me to the polls in West Roxbury on Tuesday — especially given the historic nature of an election that could produce the first female president.

Additionally, she is an expert in bubble filling, which is the key skill needed to mark the paper ballots used in Massachusetts. One day she might say she helped me vote and she would have a photo to prove it.

But I discovered that Massachusetts law was not going to cooperate with my plan.

I imagine a lot of parents, especially girls, got them to vote today. Polls don’t close until 8 p.m., so there’s still time – but be aware that there are rules that could ruin the moment.

First, voters must mark their own ballot. I’m not going to incriminate myself or my daughter here, but let’s just say that a poll worker felt it necessary to remind me that my daughter was too young to vote.

“While your children can accompany you, they cannot vote, so they should not mark the ballot or insert the ballot into the box,” said Debra O’Malley, communications director for the Secretary of State. ‘State William F. Galvin, in a statement. e-mail. “Only the elector eligible to vote is authorized to do so, in the absence of a physical disability.”

Second, if you were hoping to photograph the moment — a moment that, again, shouldn’t be happening — that’s also a no-no.

“Photography is allowed, but only outside the voting area,” O’Malley said. Taking photos inside this area is prohibited “because you may accidentally capture another person’s marked ballot.”

Given the incredible pressure election workers are under, I absolutely won’t fault them for following the letter of the rules. That said, I want to point out that Mayor Michelle Wu voted with her children, and a video she posted on Tuesday Instagram appeared to show one of them holding the pen. I’m going to assume the best: that the photo was taken from outside the voting area and that her child was scribbling on something else, not marking a ballot.

But I would also like the rules to be a little more flexible in the future. Ultimately, it’s my ballot. If I want my daughter to have a priceless time – and I accept the risk that she accidentally fills the bubble for Shiva Ayyadurai – isn’t that up to me?