When Is Election Day 2026? Midterm Date and Rules

Election Day 2026 is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. It’s a midterm year: every seat in the US House of Representatives and about a third of the Senate are on the ballot, along with many state and local races.

Federal law sets the date as the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even-numbered years. That rule is why Election Day moves around between November 2 and November 8, and never lands on November 1. This guide explains where the rule came from, lists the next federal Election Days, covers whether the day is a holiday, and points out what else is happening on the calendar that week.

When is Election Day 2026, and what’s on the ballot

Polls open on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Members of the House serve two-year terms, so all House seats are elected every even year. Senators serve six-year terms in three staggered classes, so roughly one-third of the Senate is elected each cycle. Many states and cities put governors, legislators, judges, ballot measures and local offices on the same ballot, though some hold their own elections on other dates, including in odd-numbered years.

There is no presidential race in 2026. Because the vote falls halfway through a presidential term, it is called a midterm election. The next presidential Election Day is Tuesday, November 7, 2028.

Polling hours, early voting periods, mail ballot rules and registration deadlines are set by each state. The official place to look them up is vote.gov, which links to every state’s election office.

Why Election Day is the Tuesday after the first Monday

Before 1845, states picked presidential electors on different days within a 34-day window. As travel and communication got faster, concerns about manipulation and fraud grew, and House members debating a uniform date said the goal was to guard against election fraud. In 1845, Congress set one date for the whole country: “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November.” The first presidential election held under the single date was on Tuesday, November 7, 1848.

Congress later moved other federal races onto the same day. A law passed in 1872 aligned House elections with it starting in 1876, and after the Seventeenth Amendment (1913) created popular Senate elections, a 1914 law put Senate races on the same schedule.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the choice reflected a mostly rural country:

November: after the autumn harvest but before winter weather made roads hard to travel.
Tuesday: voters who needed a day to reach the polls could travel on Monday instead of on Sunday, the Sabbath for most Christians.
Never November 1: many merchants did their monthly books on the first of the month, so the “after the first Monday” wording keeps the vote off that day.

Federal Election Days, 2026 to 2034

The earliest possible date is November 2, when November begins on a Monday, and the latest is November 8, when it begins on a Tuesday.

Year	Election Day	Type
2026	Tuesday, November 3, 2026	Midterm
2028	Tuesday, November 7, 2028	Presidential
2030	Tuesday, November 5, 2030	Midterm
2032	Tuesday, November 2, 2032	Presidential (earliest possible date)
2034	Tuesday, November 7, 2034	Midterm

The same Tuesday rule applies in odd years too, and a number of states and cities hold elections then. In 2027, for example, the date would be Tuesday, November 2, 2027, but there are no regularly scheduled federal races. For a running count to the next vote, see how many days until Election Day.

Is Election Day a holiday?

Election Day is not a federal holiday. It isn’t on the list of 11 holidays in 5 U.S.C. 6103, so federal offices, post offices and banks are open on November 3, 2026. The New York Stock Exchange is open as well; Election Day isn’t on its holiday calendar.

At the state level, the answer varies:

Some states make Election Day a state holiday, so state offices close.
Many states require employers to give workers time to vote, sometimes paid, often with conditions such as advance notice or limited hours.
Some school districts close because their buildings serve as polling places.

These rules differ widely, so check your state election office or your employer’s policy. If your employer does close, the 2026 holiday calendar shows how the day fits with the federal holidays around it. Because most states also offer early voting or mail voting in some form, many people vote before the Tuesday itself.

What else is on the calendar that week

Clocks change two days earlier. Daylight saving time ends at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026, so evening poll closings come after an earlier sunset than the week before. Our daylight saving time guide has the details.
Veterans Day follows eight days later. It falls on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, and it is a federal holiday. See Veterans Day 2026: what’s open and closed.
Thanksgiving comes 23 days later, on Thursday, November 26, 2026.

The November 2026 calendar shows all of these on one page.

A short checklist for November 3, 2026

Confirm your registration well before your state’s deadline, which can be weeks ahead of Election Day in some states.
Look up your polling place; it can change between elections.
If you plan to vote by mail, check your state’s request and return deadlines and whether a postmark counts.
Check what ID, if any, your state asks for at the polls.
If you need time off work, ask early. State time-off rules often require notice, and the business days calculator helps you count back a notice period.

Frequently asked questions