When Do Polls Close on Election Night? An Hour-by-Hour Guide

People wait in line to vote on the last day of early voting at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 1, 2024. Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images

Results will start rolling in at 6 p.m. EST on Election Day.

Starting with Kentucky, which closes at 6 p.m. EST, and ending with Alaska and Hawaii, which close at midnight, results will come in every hour.

The largest set of states close their polls at 8 p.m. Every time listed in this article is Eastern Standard Time.

According to various state election authorities, voters waiting in line when the polls are scheduled to close are typically allowed to vote.

6 p.m.

The first polls in the United States will close in Kentucky at 6 p.m. Kentucky will assign 8 votes in the Electoral College.

7 p.m.

At 7 p.m., Georgia is the first battleground state to close its polls. It will assign 16 electoral votes in 2024.

Seven more states will close their polls at 7 p.m. Florida, with 30 electoral votes, is the largest state to close at 7 p.m.

According to various state election authorities, Indiana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia will close their polls at 7 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

Thirty minutes after Georgia, the polls will close in the second of the seven battleground states. North Carolina polls will close at 7:30 p.m.

At the same time, two more states—Ohio and West Virginia—will close their polls. Ohio, with 17 votes in the Electoral College, is the biggest.

8 p.m.

The largest set of states will close their polls at 8 p.m.

At the top of this hour, Michigan and Pennsylvania—the site of much of the last-minute campaigning by the Democrat and Republican Party’s nominees—will close their polls.

Michigan casts 15 votes in the Electoral College in 2024. As Michigan covers two time zones, some of its polls will close an hour later, at 9 p.m.

Pennsylvania gets 19 votes in the 2024 Electoral College. That’s the highest number of any of the battleground states.

Texas, the second-largest state for electoral votes in the union, will also close its polls at 8 p.m. The Lone Star State gets 40 votes in the Electoral College.

Along with these three key states, polls close at 8 p.m. in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, the District of Columbia, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Tennessee.

Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas all straddle two time zones, so some of the polls in their western counties will close at 9 p.m.

8:30 p.m.

Only one state, Arkansas, will close its polls at 8:30 p.m. The Natural State assigns 6 electoral votes in 2024.

9 p.m.

Arizona and Wisconsin, another pair of critical battleground states, will close their polls at 9 p.m. Arizona will issue 11 votes, and Wisconsin will hand out 10 in the 2024 Electoral College.

New York, the largest state in the 9 p.m. set, is also the latest on the East Coast to close its polls. The Empire State hands out 28 Electoral College votes.

Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming also close their polls at 9 p.m.

10 p.m.

The final battleground state, Nevada, will close its polls at 10 p.m. The Silver State will cast six electoral votes in 2024.

Four other Western states —Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Utah—will close their polls at 10 p.m. Oregon, with 12 votes, will count the most in the 2024 Electoral College in the 10 p.m. set.

11 p.m.

At 11 p.m., the state with the most votes in the 2024 Electoral College will close its polls. California, along with Washington, ends polling at 11 p.m.

12 a.m.

The last states in the union to close voting, Hawaii and Alaska, will shut down polling centers at midnight. The Aloha State gets four votes in the 2024 Electoral College. Alaska gets three.