US midterms: These three states will decide the fate of the Senate

Three days since the polls closed for the US midterm elections, all eyes are on three states that will determine who will control the Senate. With Georgia heading to a run-off in December, the focus is currently on Arizona and Nevada, where the elections are a toss-up with hundreds of votes yet to be counted. 

While Democratic candidate Sen. Mark Kelly is currently leading against Republican candidate Blake Masters in Arizona, 

pro-Trump candidate Adam Laxalt has a slight edge over Democratic candidate Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada. But the tables could turn as both parties believe the mail ballots from urban areas could help catch them up. 

"We continue to be confident that we will win this race and are grateful for Arizona’s elections officials working around the clock to count outstanding ballots across the state," Emma Brown, Kelly’s campaign manager, told The Washington Post.

So far, there are roughly 540,000 ballots to be counted in Arizona, the majority of them (about 350,000 ballots) are in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county. This means the margins could shift. 

The expectation is that the results of the outstanding ballots could come by around Friday evening."We should start to see those tomorrow, I believe – we’ll start seeing those come in," Bill Gates, chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, told CNN. 

Another reason for the delay in counting is that the ballots have to be processed first. Besides, about 17,000 ballots were not read by the tabulator on Election Day because of a printer error. The county has not yet started counting the 290,000 ballots dropped off on Election Day too.

Pima County, Arizona’s second-most populous, too is reporting incoming votes to the count of approximately 20,000 ballots per day. It anticipates another ballot drop of 20,000 on Friday. 

In Nevada too, mail-in ballots are pouring in through Saturday. As per the state's law, ballots can be accepted through Saturday as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

It is a neck-and-neck battle in Nevada as Republicans have a slim advantage as Adam Laxalt is locked in a tight race with Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. With over 95,000 votes remaining outstanding, the seat is a toss-up though the GOP believes the red-leaning areas will help them pull through. The results in Nevada too are expected to come only by this weekend. 

Though many in the Republican party believe it would be difficult for Laxalt to keep his lead, he disagrees. "We expected the remaining mail universe to fall well below the percentage [Cortez Masto] needs to catch us,” he tweeted.

Georgia run-off 

With both candidates failing to get 50 per cent votes, Georgia will see a run-off in December. As per reports, both Republicans and Democrats are preparing to pump in money. While most Republicans believe Trump's re-election bid announcement might hamper the chances of Republican candidate Herschel Walker as it might take focus away from inflation, border security and crime.

But not Walker. He believes a win is certain. "I'm telling you right now -- I didn't come to lose," Walker said.

Democratic Sen. Raphael G. Warnock too is confident of registering a win. He told his supporters on Wednesday that he is confident of the win.

"We're not sure if this journey is over today, or if there's still a little work yet to do, but here's what we do know: We know that when they're finished counting the votes from today's election, that we're going to have received more votes than my opponent," he added.

Both parties are leaving no stone unturned. National leaders from both sides will arrive in Georgia over the next four weeks to campaign for their candidate.