Brazilians will vote in the first round of the 2026 elections on October 4, with polling stations opening and closing simultaneously nationwide under Brasilia time.
If a runoff is required for president or governor, electors will return to the ballot box on October 25 during the same hours. While polling stations in the capital operate from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., residents in several states must follow different local times to match the synchronized national schedule.
The unified schedule follows a 2021 ruling by the Superior Electoral Court, which ordered all federal units to adopt Brasilia time for elections. Electors in the Federal District and states sharing the capital time zone will vote from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Polling will run from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rondonia, Roraima, and most of Amazonas. In Acre and western municipalities of Amazonas, polls open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 3:00 p.m., while the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha will vote from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Polling Station Queue Rules and Voter Guidance
Voters who are already waiting in line at the closing hour retain the right to cast their ballots. Section staff will distribute numbered tokens, starting with the last person in line, to ensure everyone currently waiting is served. Anyone who arrives after the designated closing hour will not be allowed to vote, even if the section remains open to finish processing voters who arrived earlier.
Electoral authorities recommend that citizens verify their polling place and section ahead of time using the e-Titulo mobile application or the Electoral Self-Service system. Because voting is simultaneous throughout the country, electors living in states with time differences must make sure they arrive earlier according to their local clocks.
Vote Counting Schedule and Time Zone Rules
Synchronizing polling hours across Brazil allows the Electoral Justice to begin tallying and announcing official results immediately from 5:00 p.m. Brasilia time. Before the reform, counting could only begin from 7:00 p.m. Brasilia time because authorities had to wait for voting to conclude in Acre.
Brasilia observes the UTC-3 time zone, whereas Acre sits in UTC-5, two hours behind the capital. According to the Superior Electoral Court, the earlier two-hour waiting period was required to prevent the release of preliminary results from influencing voters who were still casting ballots in later time zones.
The Superior Electoral Court acts as Brazil's highest judicial body for electoral matters, overseeing voter registration, electronic balloting, and campaign rules across all states and municipalities.
