Washington voters decide federal and state races Tuesday, mostly by mail

First results came seven minutes after polls closed in 2024

Washington voters will choose federal and state leaders and other officeholders in Tuesday’s midterm election. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time — 11 p.m. Eastern — and the Associated Press said it will provide vote results and declare winners in races for the U.S. House, statewide ballot measures, the state Supreme Court, the state Senate and the state House.

Washington runs its elections almost entirely by mail, according to the AP. The latest advance vote totals for the state are available in the news organization’s advance vote tracker.

The mail-ballot structure shapes the first hours of the count. Almost all Washington counties report most or all of their early in-person and mail voting results in their first vote updates of the night, before any in-person Election Day results are released, the AP said.

Results have moved quickly in past cycles. The first results of the 2024 general election were reported starting at 11:07 p.m., seven minutes after polls closed, according to the AP. The state reached 50% of votes reporting at 11:15 p.m. and 90% of votes reporting four days later, at 4:58 p.m. ET on Nov. 9.

Turnout offers another benchmark: about 3 million votes were cast in Washington’s 2022 U.S. Senate race, the state’s last midterm election.

The AP’s calling standard governs when readers will see winners declared. The news organization said it does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it is determined “there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap.”

If a race has not been called, the AP said it will continue to cover newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP said it will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Close margins move races into Washington’s recount process. Machine recounts in the state are automatic if the vote margin between the top two candidates is fewer than 2,000 votes and less than 0.5% of the total votes cast for both candidates. Manual recounts are required for statewide contests if the margin is fewer than 1,000 votes and less than 0.25% of the total votes cast for both. For all other races, manual recounts are required when the margin is fewer than 150 votes and less than 0.25%, the AP reported.

The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome, the news organization said.

The AP’s Decision Team will monitor the key data points as the votes are tallied. Its coverage of the 2026 election is collected at its elections project page.