Delaware voters decide Senate, House and state offices in Tuesday's election

All three counties expected to release early and mail voting results first

Delaware voters will elect leaders for federal, state and other offices on Tuesday, with polls closing at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, attorney general, state Senate, state House, state auditor and state treasurer.

The AP Decision Team laid out the key facts and data points it will monitor as votes are tallied, from the timing of the first results to the margins that trigger recounts.

Turnout from the state’s last midterm election offers one benchmark: about 497,000 votes were cast in the 2022 race for Delaware’s at-large U.S. House seat, according to the AP.

About 24% of votes in that 2022 U.S. House race were cast early or by absentee ballot. The AP’s advance vote tracker carries the latest advance vote totals for Delaware.

All three of Delaware’s counties are expected to release all of their results from early in-person and mail voting in their first vote updates of the night, before releasing any results from in-person Election Day voting.

As for how long counting usually takes, the AP points to the 2024 general election: the first results were reported starting at 8:29 p.m. ET, 29 minutes after polls closed. The state reached 50% of votes reporting at 8:59 p.m. ET and 90% at 9:57 p.m. ET.

The AP does not make projections. It said it will declare a winner only when “there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap.”

If a race has not been called, the AP will keep covering newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory, while making clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explaining why.

Delaware’s recount rules set two paths. A candidate for statewide office in a general election can apply for a recount if the margin between the candidate and the closest opposing candidate is fewer than 1,000 votes or less than 0.5% of the sum of the two candidates’ votes, whichever is less. An automatic recount is triggered when those same requirements are met in elections for state senator, state representative or county office.

Even in a race subject to a recount, the AP may declare a winner if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome. The AP’s full 2026 election coverage is collected at apnews.com/projects/elections-2026.