South Carolina Election Day 2026: Polls Close at 7 p.m. ET as AP Tracks Senate, Governor, and State Races
South Carolina voters head to the final hours of the 2026 midterm cycle with polls scheduled to close at 7 p.m. ET. On election day, the Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners across a crowded slate of contests, including races for U.S. Senate, governor, U.S. House, House, attorney general, secretary of state, state Senate, state House, agriculture commissioner, Comptroller General, Superintendent of Education, and state treasurer.
Early Voting Volume and the Speed of the Count
Mail and early voting continue to shape how fast results emerge across the state’s counties. About 36% of votes in the 2022 race for U.S. Senate in South Carolina were cast early or by absentee ballot, setting a baseline for advance voting habits that total roughly 1.7 million overall votes cast during that midterm cycle. Advance vote totals for the current election are available directly through the AP’s advance vote tracker.
When those advance numbers hit the public depends entirely on local infrastructure. South Carolina counties vary widely in terms of when and how they release vote results. Roughly half of all counties publish all or nearly all mail ballot totals within their initial report, and about half of those simultaneously disclose in-person ballots cast on Election Day. Almost every county releases at least some early in-person results in the first update.
Speed depends on precinct reporting logistics. During the 2024 general election, the first results were reported starting at 7:19 p.m. ET, just 19 minutes after polls closed. The state reached 50% of votes reporting at 8:50 p.m. ET, and 90% of votes reporting at 11:14 p.m. ET.
How Winners Are Declared and Recounts Triggered
The Associated Press does not make projections. A victor is only named when analysis confirms no mathematical path remains for the runner-up to overcome the deficit. If a race remains uncalled, the AP covers newsworthy developments such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory while explicitly noting that no winner has been declared.
Margins dictate the legal threshold for recounts. State law mandates a recount whenever the winning margin equals or falls below 1% of the overall ballots tallied for that specific position. However, the AP may declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if it determines the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
