Is the DMV Open on Election Day 2026? Not a Federal Holiday

Election Day is not a federal holiday. The 2026 general election was held Tuesday, Nov. 3, and that date was not on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) list of 2026 federal holidays, which has Veterans Day on Nov. 11 and Thanksgiving on Nov. 26, so federal offices, the Federal Reserve and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) kept regular schedules; banks and the post office stayed open. What changes is set by where you live: Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland and New Jersey list Election Day as a state employee holiday, about half the states require employers to give time off to vote, and school districts set their own calendars. The next federal general election is Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2028.

What was open on Election Day, Nov. 3

Because Election Day is not a federal holiday, the schedule that held on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, is the same one that applies whenever Election Day falls on a regular workday:

	Status on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2026	Source
Federal offices, post office	Open; Nov. 3 was not on the federal holiday list, and U.S. Postal Service (USPS) holidays are the federal holidays	OPM
Banks and the Federal Reserve	Open; Nov. 3 was not on the Federal Reserve’s 2026 holiday list	Federal Reserve Board, K.8
Stock and bond markets	Regular hours, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time (ET); Nov. 3 was not on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) holiday schedule	NYSE; SIFMA
State offices	Closed in the states that list Election Day as a holiday (table below)	State HR pages
Public schools	Varied by district; New York City public schools held remote classes for all students	NYC Public Schools

The next federal holiday is Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, when federal offices and many banks close; see also when Veterans Day falls.

Is the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) open on Election Day?

A motor vehicle office is a state office, so whether it closes follows your state’s rules. In the states below, where Election Day is a state holiday, state government offices close. Check your state motor vehicle agency’s page for its own hours.

Which states list Election Day as a state holiday in 2026?

A state holiday means state government offices close and state workers get the day off. Private businesses, banks and federal offices in those states stay open, and polls are open everywhere. These are the states whose official 2026 human resources (HR) pages we checked on Nov. 2, 2026:

State	What the official page says	Source
Delaware	“Election Day,” Tuesday, November 3	Department of Human Resources, 2026 State Holidays
Illinois	“General Election Day,” Tuesday, November 3	Central Management Services, State Holidays
Indiana	“General Election Day,” Tuesday, November 3, 2026	State Personnel Department, State Holidays
Louisiana	“Election Day,” November 3, 2026	Division of Administration, State Holiday Calendar
Maryland	“Election Day,” Tuesday, November 3	Department of Budget and Management, State Holidays for 2026
New Jersey	“Election Day,” 11/03/2026, Tuesday	NJ.gov, State Holidays
New York	Floating holiday: “The State has designated Election Day as a floating holiday in 2026 for State employees in certain bargaining units.” Not a blanket closure	Department of Civil Service, 2026 Legal Holidays
Kentucky	Not on the 2026 state holiday list; some county offices close, so check your county	Personnel Cabinet, Holidays and Leave

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Book of the States also lists Hawaii, Montana, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia as states with an Election Day holiday. We could not confirm those five on a 2026 state HR page, so check your state’s HR page before counting on a closure. Other states publish their own lists; check the state HR page.

Schools

School districts decide on their own, and many use school buildings as polling places. Examples from 2026-27 calendars:

• New York City: the NYC Public Schools 2026-2027 calendar says, for Tuesday, Nov. 3, “Election Day, school will be in session remotely for all students”; see our NYC public schools calendar.
• Chicago: no school on Tuesday, Nov. 3; the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) 2026-27 family calendar lists it as the General Election holiday, and Monday, Nov. 2 is a parent-teacher conference day with no classes. See the Chicago Public Schools calendar.
• Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, Fla.: see the Palm Beach and Miami-Dade calendars.

Check your district’s calendar or our printable school-year calendar guide.

Time off to vote

There is no federal law guaranteeing time off to vote, but about half the states require employers to allow it. Ride codes and free transit for getting to the polls are covered in our free rides to the polls guide. Three of the largest states:

• California: up to two hours of paid time at the start or end of a shift if you cannot otherwise get to the polls; you generally must tell your employer at least two working days ahead (Elections Code 14000).
• New York: up to two hours of paid time if you do not have four consecutive hours to vote outside your working hours; notice is due two to 10 working days before Election Day (Election Law 3-110).
• Illinois: up to two hours with advance notice.

Early voting and mail voting make the issue less pressing, since 47 states offer some form of in-person voting before Election Day. Before you vote, check what time polls close in your state, see when results are expected, and look up your sample ballot by ZIP code so you know every race before you go.

The next elections

The 2026 general election was held Tuesday, Nov. 3. The next regularly scheduled federal general election is Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2028, which is the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, the date set by federal law; the Minnesota Secretary of State’s elections calendar lists it as the 2028 general election. Before any election, confirm these from an official source:

• Your registration and polling place. Both can change between elections, so use your state or local election office’s lookup.
• The dates that matter. Your state’s voter registration deadline, early voting window and mail ballot deadlines.
• What is on your ballot. The federal, state and local races and any ballot measures.

Some states and districts also hold special or runoff elections between general elections; check your state election office for those dates.

Why it isn’t a federal holiday

Congress set the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as Election Day in 1845, a choice tied to a farming calendar and travel by horse. Bills to make Election Day a federal holiday have been introduced in Congress repeatedly, and none has passed. The day remains a regular workday on the federal calendar; see our 2026 US holiday list for the days that are.

Plan your next voting day on our November 2026 printable calendar.