Midterm election night: when the polls close and which races to watch
Vote counting for the 2026 midterm elections starts Tuesday night and could continue for days or even weeks, according to NPR. NPR published an hour-by-hour guide that lists poll closing times in Eastern Time.
According to NPR, polls close at 7 p.m. ET in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia and Vermont. Polls close at 7:30 p.m. ET in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia. The Associated Press has said the first polls close at 6 p.m. ET in Indiana and Kentucky.
Control of the Senate is the central question for the night. NPR said seven states are especially competitive in that fight, and two of them use ranked choice voting, a system in which voters rank candidates by preference, which can lengthen the count.
Among the Senate contests, Georgia has Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff facing Republican Rep. Mike Collins. In North Carolina, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is running against Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. In Ohio, Republican Sen. Jon Husted faces former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. In South Carolina, Sen. Darline Graham is running against Democratic nominee Annie Andrews.
Ohio and Georgia also have governor's races on the ballot. In Georgia, Republican nominee Rick Jackson is running against Democratic candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms. In Ohio, Democrat Amy Acton faces Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.
All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election, and 35 states are electing senators. NPR has published a separate look at House races to watch.
Results are expected to come in quickly in some places. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said new laws require counties there to report results within an hour of polls closing. In most states, election officials will begin releasing results to the public on election night, at both the county and state levels. According to a PBS NewsHour explainer, the Associated Press will tabulate results for nearly 7,000 races, including congressional, state legislative and gubernatorial contests.
Voters who want to know where and when to cast a ballot can contact their state or local election office, according to USAGov.
