Polls in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections are scheduled to close at staggered times Tuesday, with the first closures expected in Indiana and Kentucky at 8 p.m. Brasilia time. (Foto: Instagram)
Polls in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections will begin closing at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, Brasilia time. Millions of voters are choosing members of Congress and governors in 36 states. Because voting hours vary across the country’s six official time zones, polls will not close simultaneously, and initial results are expected to emerge at different times through the night.
The first closings are expected in Indiana and Kentucky at 8 p.m. Brasilia time. At 9 p.m., polls are scheduled to close in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and most of Florida. At 9:30 p.m., the scheduled closings are in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia.
At 10 p.m. Brasilia time, polls are expected to close in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, most of Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, most of Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, most of North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, most of South Dakota and Tennessee. Arkansas is scheduled to close at 10:30 p.m. At 11 p.m., closings are expected in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin and Wyoming, as well as the remaining portions of North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas.
At midnight Wednesday, most of Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah are scheduled to close. California, Washington and Oregon are set for 1 a.m., Hawaii for 2 a.m. and Alaska for 3 a.m. The timing refers to Brasilia time; the staggered schedule also means the first results will be released at different points during the evening.
The United States has no central authority responsible for compiling and announcing election results. Each state counts votes and releases results as its local tally is completed, a process that can take days or even weeks. On Tuesday afternoon, President Donald Trump used social media to celebrate Republican results in Guam, a U.S. island in the Pacific with a population of just over 150,000. Voters there elected a governor and a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. The results were not official, and Guam’s delegate has limited powers: the delegate can introduce bills, take part in debates, serve on committees and propose amendments, but cannot vote on final passage of legislation on the House floor.
Midterm elections take place halfway through a presidential term and are often viewed as a measure of public opinion about the administration. Unlike presidential elections, they do not include a candidate for the White House, but results can reflect voter satisfaction with the country’s direction. All 435 House seats and 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats are being contested, along with the 36 governorships.
Republicans, the party of President Trump, currently hold 218 seats in the House, compared with 214 for Democrats. Democrats need to gain four additional seats to regain control of the chamber, according to the figures provided. In the Senate, Republicans hold 53 seats, while Democrats and independents aligned with them have 47; Democrats would need 51 seats to take the majority. Congress writes and passes federal laws and oversees the executive branch. A change in its makeup could make it harder for the White House to advance priority legislation and shift the balance of power in Washington.
