Election Night 2026

Ballot scanners at most polling sites in Westchester County, New York, were not accepting ballots after polls opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday, County Executive Ken Jenkins said, CBS New York reports. Voters are still checking in and filling out their paper ballots, which poll workers put into sealed orange bags. The bags go to the Board of Elections after polls close, and those ballots will be counted first, before ballots that went through machines, the county Board of Elections told News 12.

President Trump posted a string of messages on Truth Social overnight and early Tuesday urging Republicans to vote and attacking Democratic candidates, The Jerusalem Post and Newsweek report.

This year's midterm elections are projected to cost about $11.9 billion, the most of any midterm on record, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics. Its cost-of-election data puts the total at $11.93 billion. The estimate covers candidates, parties, PACs and outside groups, based on Federal Election Commission filings and past spending patterns, and leaves out transfers between committees so money isn't counted twice.

As of about 6 AM ET on Election Day, Kalshi contract prices favor Democrats in 22 of the 36 governor races on the ballot. That count includes five seats Republicans hold now: Alaska (Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, 90%), Iowa (Rob Sand, 88%), Ohio (Amy Acton, 83%, against Vivek Ramaswamy), Nevada (Aaron Ford, 75%, against Gov. Joe Lombardo) and Georgia (Keisha Lance Bottoms, 73%, against Rick Jackson).

About 32,000 mail-ballot return envelopes in Washoe County, Nevada (Reno), were printed with the word "FALSE" in an "ID Required" field. County officials say it was a printing-vendor error and that the ballots inside are valid, the Reno Gazette-Journal and The Hill report.

Prediction markets point to a Democratic House majority (Kalshi about 94%), but a handful of individual races are still close. Kalshi contract prices as of about 3 AM ET Tuesday, showing the chance the Democrat wins:

A statewide malfunction in Montana's ballot envelope label printing, which began Friday, has forced election workers to handwrite voter identification information on envelopes, Billings station KTVQ reports.

About 2.8 million North Carolinians voted before Election Day, a record for a midterm and about 36% of registered voters, NC Newsline and WUNC report. More than 2.7 million voted in person, up from about 2 million in 2022. Saturday, the last day, was the busiest, with about 249,000 voters.

The Michigan Court of Claims on Monday struck down a rule from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson that required local clerks to delete electronic poll book software and files within seven days after an election is certified. Judge Michael J. Riordan found the rule conflicts with Michigan's election-records retention law, which requires records to be kept for 22 months, and permanently barred its enforcement.

Federal prosecutors in Michigan have now indicted 12 people in an alleged campaign of threats and vandalism aimed at forcing the University of Michigan to cut ties with Israel. Targets included university officials, businesses and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. One of the defendants, Mariam Odeh, 24, of Dearborn, worked briefly as an hourly organizer for Abdul El-Sayed's Democratic Senate campaign, the New York Post and Michigan News Source report.

Only 43% of registered voters say their own member of Congress deserves another term, the lowest share in any final pre-midterm Gallup reading since the question was first asked in 1994, and the first time it has dropped below half. Before this year it ranged from 50% to 69%. Just 15% say most members of Congress deserve reelection, also a record low. The poll, released Oct. 28, is circulating widely on X on Election Day morning.

The Justice Department is sending about 1,000 election monitors to polling places in all 50 states for today's midterms. It is the largest monitoring effort in the department's history, NBC News and PBS report. In the 2022 midterms the department sent 388 people to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states.

Election Day is here, and polls open this morning (as early as 5 or 6 a.m. in the Northeast). On the ballot: all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 governorships are on the ballot. Here is when the last polls close in each state, in Eastern Time. Those are the earliest moments a statewide race can be called, and first returns are not calls.

The Justice Department on Monday announced charges against 63 people in 15 states for illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration and false claims of U.S. citizenship to register or vote. The department said four of those charged are in the country illegally; many of the others are lawful permanent residents (green-card holders), who are not allowed to vote in federal elections.

AtlasIntel, which rated among the most accurate pollsters of 2024, released its final state polls Monday (likely voters, Oct. 28-Nov. 1). Democrats lead every Senate race it tested:

Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan Senate campaign says it raised more than $2.4 million on Sunday, its best single day, after Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers. The campaign says the money came from more than 65,000 donors averaging $36.74, nearly 29,600 of them giving for the first time, Fox News, The Washington Post and MLive report. The figures come from the campaign and haven't been checked against federal filings yet.

On the eve of Tuesday's vote, Republican Saritha Komatireddy is pressing her case that Attorney General Letitia James has turned "a blind eye" to antisemitic hate crimes in the state with the largest Jewish population, JTA and The Jerusalem Post report. Komatireddy has pledged to declare an antisemitism state of emergency in New York City, expand hate-crime prosecutions and push buffer zones around Jewish schools and synagogues, the New York Post reported.

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Monday to order California to keep separate the mail ballots of more than 20,000 people the administration says are "likely noncitizens," so they can be challenged before they are counted.

Attorney General Letitia James heads into Tuesday's election with a double-digit lead over Republican Saritha Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor, in the final public polls.

President Trump said he would issue preemptive pardons to people who worked in his administration if Democrats win Congress on Tuesday and try to prosecute them. "I would if I needed to. Sure," he told the New York Post's Miranda Devine on the "Pod Force One" podcast published Monday. Asked if that covered everyone who worked for him: "I'd do it. I did it for J6," referring to the roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants he pardoned on his first day back in office. He pointed to Joe Biden's last-day pardons of Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley, the Jan. 6 committee and Biden family members: "That's what Biden did."

On the eve of the midterms, the major forecasts agree Democrats are favored in both chambers but split on how confident to be about the Senate.

The last national polls before Tuesday all show Democrats ahead on the generic congressional ballot. AtlasIntel, surveying 3,566 adults Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 (margin of error ±2), has Democrats at 55.5% and Republicans at 41.4%, a lead of 14.1 points. Emerson College's final national poll, taken Oct. 24-26, has Democrats ahead 52% to 42%. The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling average stands at Democrats 51.2%, Republicans 42.3%, a lead of 8.9 points.

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed said on CBS's "60 Minutes" Sunday that Palestine has a right to exist, but added a condition when asked the same about Israel.

The final New York Times/Siena polls of likely voters, taken Oct. 23 to Nov. 1, show Democratic Senate candidates ahead in seven states: Michigan (El-Sayed 53%, Rogers 42%), Texas (Talarico 50%, Paxton 43%), Maine (Jackson 51%, Collins 45%), Ohio (Brown 49%, Husted 44%), Kansas (Hamilton 49%, Marshall 44%), Alaska (Peltola 48%, Sullivan 46%) and Iowa (Turek 48%, Hinson 47%).

Streamer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned for Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, said on a livestream that canvassing in West Bloomfield, a suburb with a large Jewish community, was like campaigning for a Black candidate in a "KKK neighborhood." He also called pro-Israel opposition to El-Sayed "Jewish supremacy," Jewish Insider and The Times of Israel report.

At least 54.8 million mail and in-person early ballots had been cast nationwide as of NBC News' latest count, updated just after midnight ET Monday. NBC's tally combines daily totals from state election officials and the data firm TargetSmart.

President Trump is scheduled to deliver his "closing message before the Midterms" at 2 p.m. ET Monday at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, a White House official told Axios. The official said he will highlight the record of his administration and congressional Republicans.

Registered voters prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress by 52% to 45% in a new national NBC News poll, 2 points wider than NBC's poll last month. Democrats lead by 21 points among independents.

Republicans hold the Senate 53-47, so Democrats need a net gain of four seats for a majority, Reuters reports. Thirty-five seats are on the ballot, including special elections in Ohio and Florida.

As of about 6 AM ET on Election Day, Polymarket share prices implied a 94.5% chance Democrats win the House and a 76.5% chance they win the Senate, down a point from 3 AM. On Kalshi, Democratic House control traded at 94% and Senate control at 76%.

More than 7.4 million Texans voted early, about 39% of registered voters, a new record for a midterm, CBS Texas reports. The Texas Tribune's later preliminary count rose above 7.7 million, or 40.5%, passing the modern record set in 2018; counties are still reporting and mail ballots can still arrive.

Stevens backed Rogers on Sunday over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who narrowly beat her in the August primary.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled the Justice Department lacks standing and said its request would likely violate the secret ballot.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday called Rep. Haley Stevens' endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers "a despicable betrayal," writing on X that Senate Democrats are "united in our support for Abdul El-Sayed." Schumer had backed Stevens in the August primary, which El-Sayed narrowly won.