What Time Do Polls Close? Every State’s Nov. 3 Closing Time

Polls close in waves on Tuesday, Nov. 3, starting at 6 p.m. Eastern time in parts of Indiana and Kentucky and ending at 1 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday in Alaska’s western Aleutian Islands. Here is every state’s closing time, the states split by time zones and the rule for voters still in line.

Updated Oct. 31, 2026. Every closing time below was checked that day against a state election office page or a state statute.

What time do polls close on Election Day? It depends on the state, and in about a dozen states it depends on where you live inside the state. Polls in the Eastern time parts of Indiana and Kentucky close first, at 6 p.m. Eastern. The last mainland polls close at 11 p.m. Eastern in California, Oregon, Washington and northern Idaho, and possibly in parts of North Dakota, where counties can keep polls open until 9 p.m. local time. Hawaii and most of Alaska close at midnight Eastern, and Alaska’s western Aleutian Islands close at 1 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday.

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, Nov. 1, two days before the election, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. All Eastern times in this article are Eastern Standard Time. Central time is one hour behind Eastern, Mountain two hours (Arizona is also two hours behind on Nov. 3), Pacific three, Alaska four and Hawaii five.

What time do polls close in each state?

The table lists each state’s Election Day hours in local time and the matching Eastern time. States that span two time zones get one row per zone. Each row links to the official page or statute it comes from.

States split by time zones

Federal regulations draw the time zone lines, county by county, in 49 CFR Part 71. State law then sets poll hours in local time, so one state can have two closing times on the Eastern clock.

• Indiana and Kentucky: Polls close at 6 p.m. local time statewide. That is 6 p.m. Eastern in the Eastern time counties and 7 p.m. Eastern in the Central time counties in the northwest and southwest corners of Indiana and in western Kentucky. Indiana’s 2026 Election Day Handbook says hours are in “prevailing local time.”
• Florida: Polls close at 7 p.m. local time. Florida law says the time follows “the customary time in standard use in the county seat,” according to Fla. Stat. 100.011. Most of the Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River is on Central time, so it closes at 8 p.m. Eastern.
• Michigan: Polls close at 8 p.m. local time under MCL 168.720. Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson and Menominee counties in the Upper Peninsula are on Central time, so they close at 9 p.m. Eastern.
• Tennessee: The Secretary of State’s office says all polls close at “8 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. CDT” in its August 2026 election guidance. With standard time back on Nov. 3, that is 8 p.m. Eastern or 7 p.m. Central, the same moment statewide. Opening times vary by county.
• Alabama: Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central. The state’s 2026 voter guide says polling places in the Eastern time zone may be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern. The guide does not list which polling places those are.
• Texas: Polls close at 7 p.m. local time, according to VoteTexas.gov. El Paso and Hudspeth counties are on Mountain time and close at 9 p.m. Eastern. The rest of the state closes at 8 p.m. Eastern.
• Kansas: State law sets 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Central time counties and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the four Mountain time counties (Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton), both 8 p.m. Eastern. Counties may set other hours, ending as late as 8 p.m. Central or 7 p.m. Mountain, which is 9 p.m. Eastern, under K.S.A. 25-106.
• South Dakota: Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, according to the South Dakota Secretary of State. The Central time east closes at 8 p.m. Eastern; the Mountain time west closes at 9 p.m. Eastern.
• Nebraska: Polls in the Central time zone are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; in the Mountain time west, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., under Neb. Rev. Stat. 32-908. Both close at 9 p.m. Eastern.
• North Dakota: The Secretary of State says polls open between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and close between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time, according to its 2026 general election media guide. With Central and Mountain zones, closings run from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. Voters should check their county’s hours.
• Idaho: Polls close at 8 p.m. local time under Idaho Code 34-1101. The Mountain time south closes at 10 p.m. Eastern; the Pacific time north, above the Salmon River, closes at 11 p.m. Eastern.
• Oregon: Ballot drop sites close at 8 p.m. local time. Most of Malheur County is on Mountain time, so it closes at 10 p.m. Eastern; the rest of the state closes at 11 p.m. Eastern.
• Alaska: Polling places are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the Alaska Division of Elections. That is midnight Eastern in most of the state and 1 a.m. Eastern Wednesday in the Aleutian Islands west of 169 degrees 30 minutes west longitude, which are on Hawaii-Aleutian time under 49 CFR 71.12.

Nevada is also crossed by a time zone line: West Wendover, on the Utah border, is on Mountain time under 49 CFR 71.9. Nevada law sets a 7 p.m. closing, which is 10 p.m. Eastern in the Pacific time part of the state. Voters in West Wendover should confirm their hours with Elko County.

If you’re in line when polls close, stay in line

A voter who is in line when polls close gets to vote. A voter who joins the line after closing time does not. Politics Elections confirmed that rule in state law or official election office guidance for 28 states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. Voters in other states should ask a poll worker or their local election office about the rule where they vote.

Any elector who is in line at the time of the official closing of the polls shall be allowed to cast a vote in the election.

Fla. Stat. 100.011

Some states spell out how the line is kept. Virginia election officers list the names of all voters in line at 7 p.m. and “permit those voters and no others to vote,” under Va. Code 24.2-603. In Kentucky, the precinct election sheriff picks the last voter in line at 6 p.m. and waits “in line with the last voter” until that person has voted, under KRS 118.035. Indiana’s Election Day Handbook says a poll official may stamp the hand of each voter in line or stand behind the last voter who may vote. Utah’s law says election judges “shall allow every voter who arrives at the polls by 8 p.m. to vote,” under Utah Code 20A-1-302. North Dakota’s Secretary of State says voters in line at closing get 30 minutes to cast their ballot after check-in.

Mail ballot deadlines in states that vote by mail

In states that mail a ballot to every registered voter, the closing time that matters for most voters is the ballot return deadline. Some states require a ballot to arrive by the time polls close; others count ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive later.

California and Nevada also mail a ballot to every active registered voter, and some states accept mail ballots that arrive after Election Day. California counts ballots postmarked on or before Nov. 3 and received by Nov. 10, according to the California Secretary of State. Nevada counts ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by 5 p.m. on the fourth day after, which is Saturday, Nov. 7, under NRS 293.269921. New Jersey requires a postmark by 8 p.m. on Election Day and receipt within six days, according to the New Jersey Division of Elections. New Mexico and Wyoming require absentee ballots to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State and the Wyoming Secretary of State.

When will results start coming in?

Poll closing times set the earliest point when counties can begin to report results. They are not a schedule for calls or final tallies. Many states keep counting for days, including late-arriving mail ballots and provisional ballots, and no result is official until it is certified. Politics Elections tracks those dates in its guide to state election results certification deadlines.

On the Eastern clock, results can start after these closings: 6 p.m. (parts of Indiana and Kentucky), 7 p.m. (Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont, most of Florida and the rest of Indiana and Kentucky), 7:30 p.m. (North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia), 8 p.m. (much of the East and South), 8:30 p.m. (Arkansas), 9 p.m. (New York, much of the Plains and the Mountain West), 10 p.m. (Montana, Nevada, Utah and southern Idaho), 11 p.m. (the West Coast and northern Idaho) and midnight or later (Hawaii and Alaska). For the races drawing the most attention, see the Politics Elections roundup of Senate toss-up races and the latest polls.

About these numbers

Closing times come from state election office pages, election guides and state statutes, all read Oct. 31, 2026, and are linked in the table. Tennessee’s closing time comes from the Secretary of State’s August 2026 election guidance; Politics Elections did not find a November-specific statement. New Hampshire sets hours by town and North Dakota by county, so their times are shown as ranges. The District of Columbia’s hours come from the DC Board of Elections. Time zone boundaries come from federal regulations in 49 CFR Part 71. Eastern times assume Eastern Standard Time, which takes effect Nov. 1. Local officials can change hours in some states, and a court can order a polling place to stay open late. Voters should confirm their polling place and hours with their state or local election office before Election Day.