US midterm elections: Poll opening and closing times by state

WASHINGTON: Millions of Americans are heading to polling stations on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to cast their ballots in the 2026 US midterm elections, with voting hours varying across states. Polls are opening as early as 5 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) in Vermont, while the last polling stations will open at noon ET in Hawaii. Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia offer early voting, while Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire do not. Eight states and Washington, D.C., automatically send mail-in ballots to registered voters, although in-person voting remains an option in most cases. More than 57 million voters had already cast their ballots early this year, according to CBS News. Voters who are in line before a polling station closes have the right to remain in line and cast their ballots. When do polls open in US states? Vermont is the first state to open its polling stations at 5 a.m. ET. Several other states begin voting at 6 a.m., while Hawaii is the last to open its polls at noon ET. The opening schedule is as follows: 5 a.m. ET: Vermont 6 a.m. ET: Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Virginia 6:30 a.m. ET: North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia 7 a.m. ET: Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina 8 a.m. ET: Alabama, Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin 8:30 a.m. ET: Arkansas 9 a.m. ET: Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming 10 a.m. ET: California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon 11 a.m. ET: Alaska and Washington Noon ET: Hawaii When do polls close across the US? The first polling stations are scheduled to close at 6 p.m. ET in parts of Indiana and Kentucky. Polls close at 7 p.m. in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, as well as the remaining parts of Indiana and Kentucky and most of Florida. The closing schedule across the country is as follows: 7 p.m. ET: Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia 7:30 p.m. ET: North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia 8 p.m. ET: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island 8:30 p.m. ET: Arkansas 9 p.m. ET: Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming 10 p.m. ET: Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota and Utah 11 p.m. ET: California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington Midnight ET: Hawaii 1 a.m. ET: Alaska Polling hours may vary within some states. In Texas and Alaska, for example, most polling stations close an hour earlier than the latest listed closing time. When will election results be reported? States will begin reporting results after their polling stations close. However, the timing of vote counts and official results will vary depending on local election procedures and the number of ballots to be counted.