Americans are voting today, Tuesday, November 3, in the 2026 midterm elections. Polls have already opened in many states, and by tonight the first results will start to arrive. If you plan to follow along, it helps to know when each state closes its polls and why the early numbers can look very different from the final picture.

This guide draws on election-night explainers from The Guardian and Axios. All times below are Eastern.

What is on the ballot

According to The Guardian, voters are choosing 35 Senate seats, 36 governors’ races and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, along with ballot measures in several states on issues that range from election administration to abortion access. More than 56 million Americans had already cast early ballots before today, with millions more expected to vote in person.

For control of Congress, the arithmetic is simple. Axios reports that Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats, so Democrats need a net gain of four seats for a Senate majority. In the House, a party needs at least 218 seats to take control.

The election-night clock

Polls do not close at the same time, so results roll in across the evening. Here is the broad schedule, as laid out by The Guardian and Axios:

  • 6 p.m.: Most polls in Indiana and Kentucky close, giving the first House returns. Parts of both states sit in the Central time zone, so some polling places stay open until 7 p.m.
  • 7 p.m.: Most of Florida, Georgia, most of New Hampshire, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia close.
  • 7:30 p.m.: North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia close.
  • 8 p.m.: A large wave of states closes, including Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, Missouri and most of Michigan and Texas.
  • 9 p.m.: Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Louisiana and others close, along with the remaining polling places in Texas, Michigan and Kansas.
  • 10 p.m.: Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah close.
  • 11 p.m.: California, Oregon and Washington begin reporting.
  • Midnight: Alaska and Hawaii close their polls.

Races getting extra attention

Both outlets point to a handful of contests that could shape the night. The Guardian highlights Senate races in Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Texas, Iowa and Alaska, and notes that two special Senate elections, in Florida and Ohio, are also on the ballot. Governors’ races in states such as Arizona, Iowa, Nevada and California are also in focus, as are competitive House districts in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Because a number of these races are expected to be close, the order in which results come in will matter as much as the totals themselves.

Why early returns can be misleading

The biggest caution from Axios is about the so-called “red mirage”. In every national election since 2018, the House and Senate votes counted by 9 p.m. Eastern were four to nine percentage points more Republican than the final result, according to an Axios analysis of AP and Edison Research counts. The reason is mostly geography: fast-counting states such as Florida report first, which skews the early tally.

Each state also has its own quirks. States that count mail ballots first tend to start bluer than they finish, while states that count Election Day votes first tend to start redder. Axios notes that Ohio, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas and Iowa have historically started blue, Michigan has swung both ways, and Maine and Alaska start red and count slowly.

The takeaway is that a lead at 9 p.m. is not a prediction of the final result. In close races, it can take hours or days to know the outcome.

Don’t expect every answer tonight

Axios points out that the Associated Press did not call control of the House until seven or eight days after Election Day in each of the past three elections. The Senate has been faster in some years, settled on election night in 2018 and just after midnight in 2024, but it took four days in 2022.

Alaska can take longest of all. Domestic ballots can be accepted up to 10 days after Election Day if postmarked on time, and if no candidate wins a majority of first choices, the state will run its ranked-choice tally on November 18.

How to follow along responsibly

If you want reliable information tonight, a few simple habits help:

  1. Check results from established sources such as the Associated Press, your state’s election office or your local election board.
  2. Look at what share of the vote is counted, not just who is ahead.
  3. Be wary of screenshots and unverified claims on social media, especially when a race is close.
  4. Remember that official results are certified later, after every valid ballot is counted.

The bottom line

Election Day is only the start of the counting. Expect an evening of shifting numbers, and give election officials the time they need to count every vote. We will keep following the story as results come in.

Image: 2023 United States Capitol 118th Congress, sunrise by U.S. House of Representatives via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Mark 1.0