A lot of the important decisions about elections are made by states, which means there’s a lot of variation. One example of that for those looking at early returns is when polls close. For states in the Eastern time zone, some closed as early as 6 p.m. and a few as late as 9 p.m. Is there a partisan pattern?
It turns out there is — as the chart below shows, when we look at the states that close later, the percentage of votes won by Mitt Romney in 2012 shifts way down. We should be careful about making causal claims — this pattern could be caused by any number of factors. But it’s an interesting pattern nonetheless.
