UPDATED: Polls open in Delaware Primary Election Until 8pm

Image courtesy DE Dept of Election – Numbers recorded at 4pm

UPDATED – 09/15/26 – Sussex County Election officials tell the Talk of Delmarva that it’s been a quiet Delaware Primary. Sussex County Director of Elections Bo McDowell says that’s because of the early voting and overall low turnout. As of 4pm about 90,700 voter had cast a ballot – between the absentee, early or machine vote options. That puts turnout at about 17% overall with 4 hours before the polls close.

Polls are open until 8pm for registered Democratic or Republican voters or AVR voters – who were automatically registered to vote through the DMV (“AVR voters”) but were not given the opportunity to select a political party affiliation at the time of registration. As a result, AVR voters who have not already chosen to affiliate with a party may complete and submit a form to designate their party affiliation as Democratic or Republican at any time up to and including September 15, 2026, the date of the Primary Election.

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ORIGINAL STORY – 09-14-26 – Tuesday is Primary Election Day in Delaware. The polls are open from 7am to 8pm, however only registered Democrats can vote in the Democratic Primary and registered Republicans can vote in the Republican Primary.

AVR voters who have not already chosen to affiliate with a party may still do that today. After today’s primary, because of a change in Delaware law, voters who register through the DMV will be given the opportunity to select a political party affiliation as part of the voter registration process.

For the primary election – you will vote at your regular assigned polling location – NOT the locations used during early voting. If you are not sure where you vote or if you have a primary election – check the voter portal. This will show you where you vote – you can also see a sample ballot, your voting history and other information.

Remember to bring identification.

DE Dept of Elections

Early voting ended Sunday night at 7pm.  So far, 38,569 Delawareans have cast a ballot – either by early voting or absentee.   

However there are 530,259 registered Democrats (330.956) and Republicans (199,303) as of September 1, 2026.  These numbers do not include any AVR voters who have voted early and declared their party affiliation at the polling location. 

AVR voters may be included in the Early Voting tallies since September 2nd through September 13th.