Learn
How the election is counted
Map the Midterms explainers on offices, ballots, and results. The wording is ours. The rules belong to election offices and to statute. Nothing here predicts a winner.
By Map the Midterms Editorial Team
Last updated: October 27, 2026. Unofficial information. Not affiliated with any government or election authority. Confirm with your official election office (Vote.gov).
How the House majority works
What 218 means, what vacancies change, and why the national popular vote does not choose the U.S. House majority.
How the Senate majority works
Why a Senate majority is a count of 100 seats, what a tie means, and why ending debate is a different vote.
Senate classes, and why only one-third of the seats are up
How the three Senate classes work, why Class 2 is on the 2026 ballot, and how an unexpired term differs.
Runoffs, open primaries, and ranked-choice finals
When a November plurality is not the last count: majority runoffs, Louisiana’s open primary, and ranked-choice tabulation.
How mail ballots are counted
Why mail-ballot rules differ by state, what a postmark deadline is, and why those ballots can be counted after election night.
Why results shift after election night
How mail ballots, provisional ballots, and later tabulation rounds move a total without changing the election.
How recounts work
What a recount is, who can ask for one, and why a recount is not the same thing as certification or a court contest.
Canvass and certification
What election officials do between unofficial election-night totals and a certified result, in the words of the process rather than a projection.
Electoral Count Reform Act basics
What the 2022 law changed about counting electoral votes, and why a midterm still has no electoral college.
How to read a ballot measure
What initiatives, referendums, amendments, and bonds are, and why a measure’s title is not the whole legal text.
What a midterm election is
What voters are choosing on November 3, 2026, and what a midterm does not decide.
How to read a poll without treating it as a forecast
What a poll’s dates, sample, and margin of error mean, and what this site refuses to do with them.
Provisional ballots
What a provisional ballot is under federal law, and why it may be counted or rejected days after Election Day.
Why a House district is not the statewide vote
How district lines, not the statewide popular vote, decide U.S. House seats, and what that means on a state hub.
Who runs an election
How secretaries of state, election boards, and local clerks divide the work, and why a private site is not one of them.
Turnout, registration, and what a margin measures
Why a turnout rate depends on the denominator, and why a past margin is a record rather than a forecast.