Polls open and close at different times across the United States for the 2026 midterm elections on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The earliest sites open at 5 a.m. Eastern Time in Vermont, while the first closures are scheduled for 6 p.m. ET in parts of Indiana and Kentucky.
The national schedule, reported by CBS News, places openings at 6 a.m. ET in Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. Most states begin voting later in the morning. Alaska and Washington open at 11 a.m. ET, followed by Hawaii at noon ET.
Closing times also vary. Polls close at 7 p.m. ET in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, as well as in parts of Indiana and Kentucky. North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia follow at 7:30 p.m. ET. Many states, including Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, have 8 p.m. ET closing times.
Closures extend past 9 p.m. ET in some states
Polls in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington are scheduled to close at 11 p.m. ET, while Hawaii’s close at midnight ET. In most of Alaska, polling places close at 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday; most of Texas closes at 9 p.m. ET, an hour earlier than the latest time shown for the state.
These times are expressed in Eastern Time, and local schedules can differ within a state, including where jurisdictions observe different time zones. Voters should check the hours for their assigned polling place. Anyone already in line when a polling site closes has the right to stay and vote.
More than 57 million voters had cast ballots before Election Day, according to an Associated Press report based on data through Monday, Nov. 2. Forty-seven states and Washington, D.C., offer early voting, while Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire do not. Eight states and Washington, D.C., automatically send mail ballots to registered voters, though in-person voting is generally still an option.
Nicole French