Midterms: This is how election day works in the USA

When do polling stations open and close?

For weeks now, US citizens in many states have had the opportunity to cast their vote in so-called early voting. Voting by postal vote has also been underway for weeks. On November 3rd, the majority of eligible voters will vote at the polling stations.

They are open from the early hours of the morning - starting with the state of Vermont in the northeast of the country (05:00 a.m. local time, 11:00 a.m. CET). As a rule, polling stations in the various states close between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time. Depending on the time zones, the closing of the polling stations takes several hours - from east to west.

The first polling stations close in most of Kentucky and Indiana when it is midnight here. An hour later (01:00 CET) the elections will end in Georgia, most regions of Florida and South Carolina. At 02:00 CET, polls close in most of Texas, Michigan and Kansas. In California on the West Coast, the midterms end at 5 a.m. CET. The last polls close in Alaska at 7 a.m. ET.

How is it counted?

Counting begins immediately after the polls close, with in many states voting cast on Election Day being processed first and postal ballot documents second.

This can lead to significant shifts in the overall result as the count progresses. Voters from a certain party may prefer postal voting, so the result will change if these votes are only counted in the second step.

There is no central electoral authority in the USA; The counting of votes and the determination of the results are the responsibility of local authorities and the states.

When can results be expected?

At the moment it is unclear when reliable results will be available with which a statement can be made about the majority in the future Congress.

The numbers on election evening are partial results that can change during the counting process. Sometimes this can take days or weeks. In addition, the individual states have different requirements as to when the results must be certified, i.e. officially confirmed.

Regardless of the status of the vote count, the major US television networks will, however, make forecasts on election evening based on post-election surveys and initial counts and then declare winners for individual states or individual electoral districts. The clearer the trends in vote counting are, the sooner pollsters can calculate who has prevailed.

The US broadcasters often say “too close to call”, in German: the races are too close to predict a winner. If it is very close, it could take several days until it is clear who is unassailably ahead.

When will the House of Representatives and Senate begin work?

The term of the current congresswoman ends on January 3, 2027 at 12:00 p.m. The newly elected parliament meets immediately afterwards. The first official act of the new House of Representatives is the election of the Speaker of the House. That is currently the Republican and Trump confidant Mike Johnson.

How does ARD report?

The midterms are a topic all day long on tagesschau, tagesthemen, tagesschau24 and tagesschau.de.

From 12:45 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., the first will inform you about the election evening in the program “US Midterms: Decision in America” with reports and analyzes from the USA. The ARD morning magazine broadcasts from 5:00 a.m. - you can also find out everything you need to know about the midterms there. On the radio, ARD Infonacht reports continuously about current developments from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.