The 50 U.S. states span six different time zones — and, due to calendar quirks and congressional calls, they don't end neatly along state lines.
In fact, over a dozen states officially contain multiple time zones (even if one only covers a handful of counties), according to USA Today:
- Alaska (Hawaii-Aleutian time and Alaska time)
- Arizona (Mountain Standard Time and Mountain Time)
- Florida (Central Time and Eastern Time)
- Idaho (Pacific Time and Mountain Time)
- Indiana (Central Time and Eastern Time)
- Kansas (Mountain Time and Central Time)
- Kentucky (Central Time and Eastern Time)
- Michigan (Central Time and Eastern Time)
- Nebraska (Mountain Time and Central Time)
- Nevada (Pacific Time and Mountain Time)
- North Dakota (Mountain Time and Central Time)
- Oregon (Pacific Time and Mountain Time)
- South Dakota (Mountain Time and Central Time)
- Tennessee (Central Time and Eastern Time)
- Texas (Mountain Time and Central Time)
Poll closing times vary by state, and, within states, by county and even town.
And states have different rules about when and how officials can start opening and processing ballots. Arizona, for instance, doesn't release votes until all precincts have reported or one hour after all polls close, whichever comes first.
The Associated Press, which NPR and many other news outlets rely on for results, says that it will not declare a winner before the final poll-closing time in states and districts with multiple time zones.
"Florida, Texas and some others begin to release vote results from most of the state shortly after polls close in the earlier time zone," the AP explains. "Votes that are already counted from areas in the earlier time zones will also be considered in determining whether a winner can be declared at the moment when the last polls close."
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