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When will we know? · Illinois

When will we know Illinois’s 2026 election results?

In 2024, about 22% of Illinois’s vote was counted by 9 PM ET, 83% by 11 PM and 92% by 1 AM.

It passed 95% by 7:13 PM ET on Nov. 7 (the first archived copy at that level).

Cook came in last (past 90% by 6:33 PM ET on Nov. 6). Lake came in first.

After the last overnight copy (92% at 2:37 AM ET), the archive’s next copies read 95% by 6:33 PM ET on Nov. 6, 99% by 2:51 AM ET on Nov. 22.

Polls in Illinois close at 8 PM ET.

The count by the hour, election night 2024

Share of Illinois’s final 2024 count that was in, by capture time from 8 PM to 2:37 AM ET0%50%100%8 PM9 PM10 PM11 PMmidnight1 AM2 AM22%83%92%
Share of Illinois’s final 2024 count that was in, by capture time from 8 PM to 2:37 AM ET0%50%100%8 PM10 PMmidnight2 AM22%83%92%
Illinois, statewide its biggest counties, each against its own final count

The biggest counties, and when each was in

Share of each county’s own final 2024 count that was in at 9 PM, 11 PM and 1 AM Eastern, and when it passed 90%.
CountyOf the state’s voteBy 9 PMBy 11 PMBy 1 AMPast 90% by
Cook37%34%83%89%6:33 PM on Nov. 6
DuPage8%none98%98%11 PM
Will6%49%78%98%1 AM
Lake6%none93%94%10 PM

Each percentage is of that county’s own final count, not of the state’s. “none” means the feed showed no votes yet; “not measured” means the feed did not carry the county’s count at that time, which is not the same as zero. A time after 2:37 AM is the first archived copy at that level; the archive has no copy between 2:37 AM and 2:37 PM on Nov. 6, so the count may have passed it earlier.

What comes late, and why

Medium pace. AP: about 74% of the 2020 vote was reported by midnight ET. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day are accepted for 14 days (Newsweek, 2026), but the fetched sources do not document a large late block or the order of vote types.

Sources: AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Illinois on Election Day (AP, syndicated by iNFOnews); Newsweek: Map shows when mail-in ballots must arrive in each state (2026). These describe the 2020, 2022 and 2024 elections and the rules in force when they were read; they are not a statement about 2026.

The 2026 races here

No race in Illinois is rated Toss-up, Tilt or Lean in our current forecast.

See every race in Illinois, print the Election Night Guide to follow the count, or make your calls in the prediction game.

Sources and method

Counts
The New York Times presidential county results feed (Associated Press data), President only, as the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine kept it. Copies used: 7:59 PM ET Nov. 5 to 10:46 PM ET Dec. 5. The archive has no capture of this feed between 2:37 AM and 2:37 PM ET on Nov 6 2024; a state still counting at 2:37 AM is not measured again until the afternoon (and only the 16 states with an 'after' point carry later captures).
Final count
The same feed's last archived capture, 2025-01-06T22:21:00-05:00 (statewide 5,592,368). It is the feed’s last archived value, not a certified canvass.
Capture times
Kept to the minute (the research file kept capture times to the minute; the Wayback address resolves to the nearest capture).
The 15 archived copies behind this page
  1. 8 PM · 0% of the state’s final count in · taken 19:59 ET 11/05
  2. 9 PM · 22% of the state’s final count in · taken 20:59 ET 11/05
  3. 10 PM · 63% of the state’s final count in · taken 21:55 ET 11/05
  4. 11 PM · 83% of the state’s final count in · taken 22:59 ET 11/05
  5. midnight · 87% of the state’s final count in · taken 23:51 ET 11/05
  6. 1 AM · 92% of the state’s final count in · taken 00:59 ET 11/06
  7. 2 AM · 92% of the state’s final count in · taken 01:57 ET 11/06
  8. 2:37 AM · 92% of the state’s final count in · taken 02:37 ET 11/06
  9. 6:33 PM on Nov. 6 · 95% of the state’s final count in · taken 18:33 ET 11/06
  10. 5:15 AM on Nov. 7 · 95% of the state’s final count in · taken 05:15 ET 11/07
  11. 7:13 PM on Nov. 7 · 95% of the state’s final count in · taken 19:13 ET 11/07
  12. midnight on Nov. 11 · 96% of the state’s final count in · taken 00:00 ET 11/11
  13. 10:20 PM on Nov. 14 · 98% of the state’s final count in · taken 22:20 ET 11/14
  14. 2:51 AM on Nov. 22 · 99% of the state’s final count in · taken 02:51 ET 11/22
  15. 10:46 PM on Dec. 5 · 99% of the state’s final count in · taken 22:46 ET 12/05