On Tuesday night, the United States – and many people around the world – will be following one of the country’s most closely contested midterm elections in recent years.
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States → follow → years
All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs as Democrats hope to take control of both chambers from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
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Democrats → hope → Party
the president’s party has fared in every US midterm election since 1946
- list 2 of 4Trump, Vance campaign with candidates on last day before US midterms
- list 3 of 4US midterms 2026: What polls reveal about Democratic, Republican voters
- list 4 of 4Trump
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polls → fare → voters
Here is what we know about the results:
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we → know → results
When will the first results come in?
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results → come → ?
The first results should be known on Tuesday after polls begin to close.
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polls → know → Tuesday
Voting will end first in some jurisdictions on the East Coast at 6pm (23:00 GMT).
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Voting → end → pm
Results will continue to come in throughout Tuesday evening, and some probably won’t be known until Wednesday or later in some races as more states finish voting and officials start releasing their vote counts.
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officials → continue → counts
But the first reported results won’t necessarily mean that a winner has been announced.
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winner → report → ?
Election officials release vote counts as ballots are processed, and news organisations, like The Associated Press, then analyse them to determine how to call a race.
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organisations → release → race
A closely contested race could take hours to call – or even days.
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race → contest → hours
It might not be clear for days whether the Republicans will retain control of Congress or Democrats secure a majority in either or both chambers.
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Democrats → retain → chambers
What time do polls close in the US?
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polls → close → US
The first polling stations to close will be in parts of Indiana and Kentucky.
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stations → close → Indiana
- 6pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) (23:00 GMT) – parts of Indiana and Kentucky
- 7pm EST (00:00 GMT) – most of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and the remaining parts of Indiana, Kentucky and most of New Hampshire
- 7:30pm EST (00:30 GMT on Wednesday) – North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia
- 8pm EST (01:00 GMT on Wednesday) – Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, the remaining parts of New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington, DC, and parts of Florida, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas
- 8:30pm EST (01:30 GMT on Wednesday) – Arkansas
- 9pm EST (02:00 GMT on Wednesday) – Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the remaining parts of Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas
- 10pm EST (03:00 GMT on Wednesday) – Montana, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Idaho and Oregon
- 11pm EST (04:00 GMT on Wednesday) – California and Washington, and the remaining parts of Idaho and Oregon
- 12am EST (05:00 GMT on Wednesday) – Hawaii and most of Alaska
- 1am EST (06:00 GMT on Wednesday) – the remaining parts of Alaska, including the western Aleutian Islands
Which states could take longer to count votes?
- Alaska:
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states → remain → votes
The state uses ranked-choice voting.
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state → use → voting
If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, extra rounds of counting are needed to determine the winner.
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rounds → receive → winner
And while in-person early and Election Day voting are reported on election night, the mail-in voting results are released in the following days.
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results → report → days
In 2024, about 75 percent of the votes were counted by the morning after the election with the remaining votes reported over the following days.
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votes → count → days
- California: The state carries out elections primarily by mail.
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state → carry → mail
Large batches of ballots come in and are verified days after the polls close, so close House races can take days or weeks to resolve.
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races → come → days
- Arizona: In some counties, voters drop off mail-in ballots on Election Day.
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voters → drop → Day
These ballots must undergo signature checks before being counted, which can delay results by several days in close races.
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which → undergo → races
All registered voters are mailed ballots.
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voters → register → ballots
Mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive up to four days later.
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ballots → mail → Day
Voters also have six days after Election Day to fix any signature problem, and this could delay results until the following week.
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this → have → week
Like Alaska, this state also uses ranked-choice voting.
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state → use → voting
If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in a race with two candidates, ballots must be taken to Augusta, Maine’s capital, for further counting.
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ballots → receive → counting
This can delay final results.
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This → delay → results
The state holds elections by mail.
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state → hold → mail
Ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted in the following days, which can cause delays.
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which → postmark → delays
Which states could report results earlier?
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states → report → results
Some of the states that could report results earlier include:
- Florida: Votes are usually counted quickly.
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Votes → report → Florida
In the 2024 general election, about 99 percent of the votes were counted by 10:51pm EST (03:51 GMT the next day), according to The Associated Press news agency.
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percent → count → agency
Ohio tends to release all or almost all of its early and absentee voting results in the first results.
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Ohio → tend → results
The first results of the 2024 elections were reported starting at 7:36pm EST (00:36 GMT), six minutes after polls closed.
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polls → report → EST
By 11:03pm EST (04:03 GMT), 90 percent of the results had been reported.
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percent → report → results
This East Coast state is also expected to release most of its results from mail-in voting in the first update of the night.
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state → expect → night
In 2024, the state reached 90 percent of vote reporting at 11:36pm EST (04:36 GMT).
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state → reach → EST
- Pennsylvania: In 2024, the first results came in as polls closed at 8pm EST (01:00 GMT).
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polls → come → EST
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
