In November 2020, when Americans last went to the polls to elect a president, it took four days after voting closed for Joe Biden to be declared the winner. This was largely due to razor-thin margins in the crucial battleground states, which resulted in some recounts, as well as large numbers of mail-in ballots that had to be counted after election day. There was the added challenge of this entire process being conducted amid a global pandemic.
Since then, some states have changed their election laws to speed up the election count. But while it may not take as long this time round, one thing we can be sure of is that a winner will not be known on election night itself. There is no set national time for voting to begin on the morning of November 5.
Most states will begin voting at 7 am in their local time, with others starting as early as 5 am or as late as 10 am. Voting will commence at a variety of times in some states, such as New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Washington where this is decided by different counties or municipalities. Polls close at a range of times across the country, too.
Voting will end as early as 6 pm US Eastern time (11 pm GMT) in Indiana and Kentucky, while polls in Hawaii and Alaska, the westernmost states, do not close until midnight US Eastern time (5 am GMT). An early indicator of which candidate is performing better will come between 7 pm and 8 pm Eastern time (midnight and 1 am GMT) when polls close in the key battleground states of Georgia and North.