54 million early votes in: When polls close tonight, in ET and PT
More than 54 million Americans voted before Election Day. Here is when the last polls close in every state, converted to Pacific time, and what is on the ballot besides Congress.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
It is Election Day, and a large share of the vote is already in. More than 54 million people cast ballots before today, nearly half of the total from the last midterm, according to NPR. Control of both chambers of Congress is on the line, along with 36 governorships and 145 statewide ballot measures, according to Fox News.
When the last polls close (Eastern / Pacific time), per PBS NewsHour:
• 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT: polls close in parts of Kentucky and Indiana, the first results of the night.
Why it matters
Republicans hold the Senate 53-47, so Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take it. In the House, Democrats need to flip three seats for control, NPR reports. Fox News rates the Senate a toss-up and the House as leaning Democratic; NPR says Democrats are favored in the House and the Senate outcome is "anyone's guess."
More context
• 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT: Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia.
• 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT: North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia.
• 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee.
• 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT: Arkansas.
• 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT: Arizona (results held for one hour), Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
• 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT: Montana, Nevada, Utah.
• 11 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. PT: California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington.
• Midnight ET / 9 p.m. PT: Hawaii. 1 a.m. ET / 10 p.m. PT: Alaska.
What to watch first: NPR flags two early House races, Kentucky's 6th District and Indiana's 5th, as bellwethers because their polls close first. In the Senate, NPR says Democrats are favored to flip North Carolina, while Republicans' top target is Michigan. NPR adds that, apart from Maine, the five Republican-held toss-up seats are in states President Trump won by double digits in 2024, which is why turnout among Election Day voters, who lean Republican, matters so much.
Beyond Congress, voters decide a long list of ballot measures, according to Fox News. Eleven states (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota and West Virginia) have measures on voter ID or on barring noncitizen voting. Alaska votes on repealing ranked-choice voting. California's Proposition 40 would impose a one-time 5% tax on wealth above $1 billion, and Washington voters weigh repealing the state's 9.9% tax on income above $1 million. Abortion is on the ballot in Missouri, Idaho, Virginia and Nevada, and measures on transgender athletes in school sports are on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington.
What is still unknown: how many Republicans vote in person today, which NPR calls a major key after Democrats built a double-digit edge in available early-voting data. Early-vote data shows who voted, not how they voted. Close races in states that count mail ballots slowly could take days, or longer, to call.
Bottom line: The first polls close at 3 p.m. Pacific, the West Coast closes at 8 p.m. Pacific, and the final call on control of Congress may not come tonight.
Sources across the spectrum This story cites right-leaning and left-leaning outlets. Every source is listed below.
5 listed sources
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Sourcing: NPR for the early-vote count and the House and Senate math; PBS NewsHour for the poll-closing schedule (times are when the last polls close in each state, in Eastern time; Pacific conversions are ours); Fox News for the ballot-measure and governor counts and its race ratings; CNBC for the early results to watch. Some states straddle two time zones, so a few polls close an hour earlier in parts of those states. The hero photo is a file image from the 2024 election.
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