Election night timeline

Nathan Brixius — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:35:00 GMT

To help your your election night party planning I have combined a list of poll-closing times for each state with projected winners. If the projections are right, Iowa will put Barack Obama over the top sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 Pacific time. If Obama carries addtional "tossup" states then the race could be called by 7:00. If McCain carries Pennsylvania then neither candidate will "officially" go over the top until much later. Obviously there is a delay between the time the polls close and when the networks make a call for a state, and as we have seen in the past if a state is close then we may not even know on election night. On the other hand, most of the swing states are earlier in the evening so we probably won't have many surprises from the states that close after 7:00.

I found poll closing times on this site and combined them with information from this blog. (There is a google spreadsheet with similar information on the site too.) I am using the excellent fivethirtyeight.com site for the projections, with the exception that I am giving Missouri to McCain.

	EST	PST	EV	Win	Obama	McCain
Georgia	6:00	3:00	15	R	0	15
South Carolina	6:00	3:00	8	R	0	23
Vermont	6:00	3:00	3	D	3	23
Virginia	6:00	3:00	13	D	16	23
Indiana	7:00	4:00	11	R	16	34
Kentucky	7:00	4:00	8	R	16	42
Ohio	7:30	4:30	20	D	36	42
West Virginia	7:30	4:30	5	R	36	47
Connecticut	8:00	5:00	7	D	43	47
Delaware	8:00	5:00	3	D	46	47
District of Columbia	8:00	5:00	3	D	49	47
Maine	8:00	5:00	4	D	53	47
Maryland	8:00	5:00	10	D	63	47
Massachusetts	8:00	5:00	12	D	75	47
New Hampshire	8:00	5:00	4	D	79	47
New Jersey	8:00	5:00	15	D	94	47
Pennsylvania	8:00	5:00	21	D	115	47
Alabama	8:00	5:00	9	R	115	56
Florida	8:00	5:00	27	D	142	56
Illinois	8:00	5:00	21	D	163	56
Mississippi	8:00	5:00	6	R	163	62
Missouri	8:00	5:00	11	R	163	73
Oklahoma	8:00	5:00	7	R	163	80
Tennessee	8:00	5:00	11	R	163	91
North Carolina	8:30	5:30	15	D	178	91
Arkansas	8:30	5:30	6	R	178	97
New York	9:00	6:00	31	D	209	97
Rhode Island	9:00	6:00	4	D	213	97
Kansas	9:00	6:00	6	R	213	103
Louisiana	9:00	6:00	9	R	213	112
Michigan	9:00	6:00	17	D	230	112
Minnesota	9:00	6:00	10	D	240	112
Wisconsin	9:00	6:00	10	D	250	112
Arizona	9:00	6:00	10	R	250	122
Colorado	9:00	6:00	9	D	259	122
Nebraska	9:00	6:00	5	R	259	127
New Mexico	9:00	6:00	5	D	264	127
South Dakota	9:00	6:00	3	R	264	130
Texas	9:00	6:00	34	R	264	164
Wyoming	9:00	6:00	3	R	264	167
Iowa	10:00	7:00	7	D	271	167
Montana	10:00	7:00	3	R	271	170
Utah	10:00	7:00	5	R	271	175
Nevada	10:00	7:00	5	D	276	175
North Dakota	11:00	8:00	3	R	276	178
California	11:00	8:00	55	D	331	178
Idaho	11:00	8:00	4	R	331	182
Oregon	11:00	8:00	7	D	338	182
Washington	11:00	8:00	11	D	349	182
Hawaii	11:00	8:00	4	D	353	182
Alaska	1:00	10:00	3	R	353	185

Nathan Brixius : Election

Election night timeline