NOTE: Live election coverage will begin in the player above starting at 3 p.m. CT
Looking for live election results and coverage of what's happening throughout election night?
NBC Chicago has you covered.
From real-time results to analysis and more, coverage is slated throughout election night in Illinois.
Here's what to know:
Live election results
As votes are tallied, results will appear on NBC Chicago's live election results page.
Polls close at 7 p.m. CT Tuesday in Illinois, 6 p.m. local time in Indiana and 8 p.m. CT in Wisconsin. Some polls may close earlier or later, however.
Illinois results will begin populating in the first half-hour after polls close and be updated live as counted votes roll in.
To track live Illinois election results from around the state, bookmark this page.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
CLICK HERE FOR LIVE ELECTION RESULTS
Voters looking for real-time election updates can also download the NBC Chicago app for push notifications as major races are called and big moments happen.
Live election coverage
NBC 5 will offer continuous special election coverage starting at 3 p.m. CT on Election Day.
Tune in on television, the NBC Chicago News streaming channel or watch live in the video player on this page for live election coverage that will continue throughout the night and even into the overnight hours as we bring you the latest results, analysis and more.
MAP: Election results
Illinois results:
National results:
Where can I find early clues about how the contest might unfold?
Look to two East Coast battleground states, North Carolina and Georgia, where the results could come in relatively quickly. That doesn't mean we'll get the final results in those states quickly if the returns are close, but they are the first swing states that might offer a sense of what kind of night we're in for.
To go deeper, look to urban and suburban areas in the industrial North and Southeast, where Democrats have made gains since 2020.
In North Carolina, Harris’ margins in Wake and Mecklenburg counties, home to the state capital of Raleigh and the state’s largest city, Charlotte, respectively, will reveal how much Trump will need to squeeze out of the less-populated rural areas he has dominated.
In Pennsylvania, Harris needs heavy turnout in deep blue Philadelphia, but she's also looking to boost the Democrats’ advantage in the arc of suburban counties to the north and west of the city. She has campaigned aggressively in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, where Biden improved on Clinton’s 2016 winning margins. The Philadelphia metro area, including the four collar counties, accounts for 43% of Pennsylvania’s vote.
Elsewhere in the Blue Wall, Trump needs to blunt Democratic growth in Michigan's key suburban counties outside of Detroit, especially Oakland County. He faces the same challenge in Wisconsin's Waukesha County outside of Milwaukee.
