Polls open across the US on Election Day with control of Congress at stake

As of 7:56 a.m. ET, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026

Polls opened across the United States on Tuesday for the final day of voting in the 2026 midterm elections. The results will decide whether President Donald Trump's Republican Party keeps control of Congress for the last two years of his term.

Voters are filling all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate, DW reported. Many states are also electing governors and deciding local races and ballot measures.

No results have been reported. States begin releasing results only after their polls close, and GROKsiNEWS.com will not report winners until races are called.

When polls open

Voting began as early as 5 a.m. ET in Vermont, according to CBS News. The Associated Press reported that the first polling sites were scheduled to open at 6 a.m. local time in Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

Hours vary by state, and in some states by town. In New Hampshire, polls must be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., but towns may open earlier, according to the state's rules as summarized by Ballotpedia and New Hampshire Public Radio. Manchester and Nashua opened at 6 a.m., NHPR reported. In Louisiana, polls opened at 6 a.m. local time and close at 8 p.m., the Louisiana secretary of state's office said.

The last polls to open are in Alaska and Washington at 11 a.m. ET and Hawaii at noon ET, CBS reported.

When polls close

The first polls close at 6 p.m. ET in eastern parts of Indiana and Kentucky, according to CBS News. Closing times listed below are each state's latest closing time, in Eastern Time:

• 7 p.m.: Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and the rest of Indiana and Kentucky. Most of Florida also closes at 7 p.m.
• 7:30 p.m.: North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia.
• 8 p.m.: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
• 8:30 p.m.: Arkansas.
• 9 p.m.: Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Most of Texas closes an hour earlier.
• 10 p.m.: Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota and Utah.
• 11 p.m.: California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
• Midnight: Hawaii.
• 1 a.m. Wednesday: Alaska. Most of the state closes an hour earlier.

Voters who are in line when their polling place closes have the right to stay in line and vote, CBS reported.

Early voting and late ballots

More than 58.6 million early votes had been cast nationally as of late Monday, according to the University of Florida Election Lab's tracker, which was last updated at 11:30 p.m. ET. The AP reported that early turnout was on pace to surpass the last midterm elections.

Election officials and voting rights advocates have urged people casting late absentee ballots to use drop boxes or deliver them in person instead of mailing them. The AP reported that recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations could cause postmark delays, which could keep mail ballots from being counted.

Heavy rain and flash flooding over the weekend were expected to make it harder for some voters to reach polling places in parts of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, the AP reported. Most polling places have not moved, but officials may announce more changes.

Observers at the polls

The Justice Department planned its largest-ever effort to monitor polling places on Election Day, and Democrats and allied groups planned an even larger one, according to the AP. The administration has said no armed federal officials would guard the polls.

Early voting went smoothly overall, with relatively few problems, the AP reported. That stands in contrast to Trump's repeated claims of election cheating. Courts have largely blocked the administration's legal moves on elections. On Monday night, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an administration effort to make California set aside thousands of ballots, the AP reported.

Last week, a reporter asked Trump whether he would accept the results. "I will if they are honest," he said, according to the AP.