By Sohaib Shams
NBC News' From the Politics Desk newsletter published a comprehensive Election Day guide for the November 3, 2026 midterms, providing poll closing schedules, coverage plans, and key race context as voters decide control of the House and Senate.
Poll Closing Times by State
Polls close in stages across Eastern Time: 7 p.m. in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia; 7:30 p.m. in North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia; 8 p.m. in Alabama, Connecticut, D.C., Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee; 8:30 p.m. in Arkansas; 9 p.m. in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming; 10 p.m. in Montana, Nevada, and Utah; 11 p.m. in California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington; midnight in Hawaii; and 1 a.m. in Alaska.
NBC News Election Night Coverage
Steve Kornacki returns to the Big Board at 5:30 p.m. ET, with primetime coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET. The network will operate live results pages for Senate, House, and governor races alongside a minute-by-minute live blog. The Decision Desk team outlined factors determining when House and Senate majorities will be called.
Key Election Stakes
Democrats need a net gain of three seats to win the House majority and four seats to capture the Senate. The outcome will shape the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency.
Other Major Developments
The Justice Department deployed a record number of election monitors across all 50 states. Flash flooding and tornadoes forced polling location changes in three U.S. regions. Westchester County, New York, experienced ballot tabulator malfunctions that sparked online conspiracy theories. The Supreme Court rejected an administration request to separate up to 20,000 California mail-in ballots allegedly submitted by noncitizens.
