Photo: Chad Davis / Wikimedia (archive)
The first mainland U.S. polls closed Tuesday at 6 p.m. Eastern in the eastern portions of Indiana and Kentucky, beginning a staggered series of Election Day closings across the country. Voting in the remaining portions of both states continues until 7 p.m. Eastern.
Fox News reported that the 6 p.m. closures applied to the eastern portions of the two states, not all of Indiana or Kentucky. The Hill reported the same first closings in its election-night updates.
The timing distinction matters for voters still heading to their polling places: a closing time in one portion of a state is not a statewide deadline. The remaining Indiana and Kentucky polls are scheduled to close one hour after the first locations.
A rolling close, not an election outcome
Fox News reported that the next wave at 7 p.m. Eastern includes Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, alongside the remaining portions of Indiana and Kentucky. Poll-closing announcements describe the voting schedule; they do not establish how any candidate or party has performed.
The two early-closing states include contests being watched in the fight for congressional control. Fox News pointed to Indiana’s 1st and 5th congressional districts and Kentucky’s Senate race between Republican Andy Barr and Democrat Charles Booker for the seat of retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell. The closing-time reports supplied no basis for declaring an outcome in those contests.
The 6 p.m. milestone was the first on the U.S. mainland. Fox News noted that polls in Guam had closed earlier, at 5 a.m. Eastern. This update is limited to poll-closing times and does not report vote totals, projections, race calls or exit-poll figures.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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