The Green Papers: 2023 Poll Closing Times for Statewide offices and Congress Primary/Runoff/Special Elections Chronologically

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This chart reflects the poll closing times used by the networks and other media outlets on Election Night. There is an "unenforced pledge" to not project a winner in a state until that state's polls have closed (which, to the media, means "most of the state's polls have closed").

Below the chart is an outline of potential difficulties which may occur where a state spans time zones. (Poll closing times are extended for voters still in line when the hour of poll closing has arrived.)

	UTC	Eastern	Central	Mountain	Pacific	Alaska Hawaii	Atlantic Chamorro Samoa
Tuesday 21 February 2023
Virginia - Special Election House CD 4	0000 UTC	7:00p EST	6:00p CST	5:00p MST	4:00p PST	3:00p AKST 2:00p HAST	8:00p AST 10:00a ChST 1:00p SST
Tuesday 16 May 2023
Kentucky - Primary (EDT) ^*A	2200 UTC	6:00p EDT 5:00p EST	5:00p CDT	4:00p MDT 3:00p MST	3:00p PDT	2:00p AKDT 1:00p HADT 12:00p HAST	6:00p AST 8:00a ChST 11:00a SST
Kentucky - Primary (CDT) ^*A	2300 UTC	7:00p EDT 6:00p EST	6:00p CDT	5:00p MDT 4:00p MST	4:00p PDT	3:00p AKDT 2:00p HADT 1:00p HAST	7:00p AST 9:00a ChST 12:00p SST
Tuesday 8 August 2023
Mississippi - Primary	0000 UTC	8:00p EDT 7:00p EST	7:00p CDT	6:00p MDT 5:00p MST	5:00p PDT	4:00p AKDT 3:00p HADT 2:00p HAST	8:00p AST 10:00a ChST 1:00p SST
Tuesday 5 September 2023
Rhode Island - Special Primary House CD 1	0000 UTC	8:00p EDT 7:00p EST	7:00p CDT	6:00p MDT 5:00p MST	5:00p PDT	4:00p AKDT 3:00p HADT 2:00p HAST	8:00p AST 10:00a ChST 1:00p SST
Utah - Special Primary for CD 2	0200 UTC	10:00p EDT 9:00p EST	9:00p CDT	8:00p MDT 7:00p MST	7:00p PDT	6:00p AKDT 5:00p HADT 4:00p HAST	10:00p AST 12:00p ChST 3:00p SST
Saturday 14 October 2023
Louisiana - Open Primary	0100 UTC	9:00p EDT 8:00p EST	8:00p CDT	7:00p MDT 6:00p MST	6:00p PDT	5:00p AKDT 4:00p HADT 3:00p HAST	9:00p AST 11:00a ChST 2:00p SST
Saturday 18 November 2023
Louisiana - General/Runoff (Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer)	0200 UTC	9:00p EST	8:00p CST	7:00p MST	6:00p PST	5:00p AKST 4:00p HAST	10:00p AST 12:00p ChST 3:00p SST
Tuesday 21 November 2023
Utah - Special Election House CD 2 reportedly	0300 UTC	10:00p EST	9:00p CST	8:00p MST	7:00p PST	6:00p AKST 5:00p HAST	11:00p AST 1:00p ChST 4:00p SST
No activity
Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Marianas Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Vermont Virgin Islands Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming	(no activity)
	UTC	Eastern	Central	Mountain	Pacific	Alaska Hawaii	Atlantic Chamorro Samoa

Notes

Polling places in states that span multiple time zones will close either synchronously or asynchronously.

(Note ^*S) With synchronized closing, all the polls close at the same GMT/UTC time. For states with multiple time zones-- when polls close in the advanced local time zone, they will close one hour earlier in the lagging local time zone.
(Note ^*A) With asynchronous closing, the polls close at different GMT/UTC times in different parts of the state. Media outlets might decide to declare a winner before all the polls have closed.

Kentucky Primary: Polls close asynchronously on Tuesday 16 May 2023 at 6:00p EDT (2200 UTC) / 6:00p CDT (2300 UTC). Poll closing time could be rather problematic in KENTUCKY. A large chunk of the state is in Central Time [but the networks consider that "most of the polls have closed" in KENTUCKY by 6 PM Eastern Time and so, if they can, project at the same time they project INDIANA]. Central Time voters in KENTUCKY may note the networks' willingness/eagerness to project a winner as early as 6 PM Eastern Time.

Rhode Island Special Primary: Polls close on Tuesday 5 September 2023 at 8:00p EDT (0000 UTC). Most polls are open at 7am. However, polls may open as late as 9am by location.

Time zone abbreviations

UTC: Coordinated Universal Time (Greenwich England)
AST: Atlantic Standard Time (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands), UTC - 4 hours
EST: Eastern Standard Time, UTC - 5 hours
EDT: Eastern Daylight Time, UTC - 4 hours
CST: Central Standard Time, UTC - 6 hours
CDT: Central Daylight Time, UTC - 5 hours
MST: Mountain Standard Time, UTC - 7 hours
MDT: Mountain Daylight Time, UTC - 6 hours
PST: Pacific Standard Time, UTC - 8 hours
PDT: Pacific Daylight Time, UTC - 7 hours
AKST: Alaska Standard Time, UTC - 9 hours
AKDT: Alaska Daylight Time, UTC - 8 hours
HAST: Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time, UTC - 10 hours
HADT: Hawaii-Aleutian Daylight Time (Hawii does not observe daylight time), UTC - 9 hours
ChST: Chamorro Standard Time (Guam, Northern Marianas), UTC + 10 hours
SST: Samoa Standard Time, UTC - 11 hours
m: midnight
a: AM
p: PM

Primary dates marked "presumably" and polling times marked "reportedly" are based on unofficial or estimated data (especially as regards local variations from a jurisdictionwide statutory and/or regulatory standard) and are, thereby, subject to change.

2023 General Election Outline

Modified .