Texas polls close at 7 p.m. local time — the Mountain-time counties vote an hour later

If you are standing in line at your Texas polling place before 7 p.m. tonight, you are going to get to vote — no matter how long that line runs.

Every polling place in the state opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 7 p.m. local time on Election Day, under Texas Election Code § 41.031.

That's not just courtesy — it's the law. Texas Election Code § 41.032 entitles any voter who is already inside the polling place, or waiting to enter, at 7 p.m. to finish casting a ballot even after the clock passes closing time.

One state, two clocks

But 7 p.m. does not strike at the same moment everywhere in Texas. The state runs on two time zones: most of it on Central Time, while the far-west corner sits on Mountain Time, one hour behind. Of Texas's 254 counties, only two — El Paso County and Hudspeth County — lie in the Mountain Time Zone, while the state's other 252 counties are in Central Time.

That arrangement dates to a 1970 federal law, Pub. L. 91-228, which let the U.S. Secretary of Transportation place the two counties in the Mountain Time Zone after written requests from the counties themselves. In practice, the Mountain-time pocket is even a little larger: Culberson County is officially on Central Time, but the portion containing Guadalupe Mountains National Park observes Mountain Time operationally.

Because closing time is set at 7 p.m. local time, El Paso and Hudspeth counties close their polls a full hour later, in real time, than the rest of the state.

El Paso County Elections Administrator Lisa Wise said, "The El Paso County Elections Department will publish the Unofficial Election Results tonight and will begin releasing those results after the polls close at 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time)."

That gap shapes how the state's race is reported tonight. The Associated Press's stated policy is not to call a race in a state until every poll in that state has closed; for Texas, that moment only arrives when the Mountain-time counties close, an hour after the first Central-time numbers begin rolling in. So the first Texas numbers on your screen will be Central-time counties only — El Paso and Hudspeth counties are still voting for another hour.

When the numbers come in

When results do arrive tonight, El Paso County will post unofficial early-voting results — in-person early votes and mail ballots cast before Election Day — at 7 p.m. Mountain Time, then unofficial Election Day results at 9 p.m. Mountain Time, with updates about every 45 minutes as precincts reach the central counting station. Across the rest of Texas, preliminary numbers generally begin appearing shortly after the 7 p.m. Central close, with early-voting and mail-ballot totals coming first and Election Day precinct results rolling in throughout the night.

Large counties — those with more than 100,000 residents — may begin counting mail ballots once early voting ends, while smaller counties may start on Election Day; no county releases any results before its own polls close.

Every number you see tonight is unofficial and can change as officials count provisional ballots, military and overseas ballots, and eligible late-arriving mail ballots before the results are formally canvassed. The results become official later: county and precinct canvasses for the November 3, 2026 general election run from November 6 through November 17, 2026, and the state canvass for federal, statewide, and district races runs from November 21 through December 7, 2026.

Before you head out

Confirm your polling place through the Texas Secretary of State's My Voter Portal. In counties that use vote centers, you may cast a ballot at any polling place in the county; elsewhere, you must use your assigned precinct location. El Paso County is running 123 Election Day vote centers, open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mountain Time.

Bring one of seven accepted forms of photo ID: a Texas driver license, Texas Election Identification Certificate, Texas personal ID card, or Texas handgun license — all issued by DPS — or a U.S. military ID with photo, U.S. citizenship certificate with photo, or U.S. passport. For voters age 18 to 69, the photo ID may be expired for up to four years; voters 70 or older may use an otherwise valid ID no matter how long it has been expired.

Above all, go by your own local clock, not the state's. If you are in the El Paso area, you have a full extra hour beyond the rest of Texas to get in line before 7 p.m. your time. Watch county-reported, unofficial returns tonight on the Secretary of State's site, results.texas.gov, with final canvassed results posted later in the Election Results Archive.