Voters in Guam, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa head to the polls on November 3, 2026. They will choose their delegates to the United States House of Representatives and, in three of the territories, their governors. Until last month, the territories were missing from many online voter guides. After Pasquines reached out, three nonpartisan guides added them.
Part of the reason is technical. “Our ballot lookup runs on Census address data, which doesn’t cover the island territories,” the Ballot Explained team told Pasquines. Because governor and delegate are elected territory-wide, though, they can be covered without an address lookup.
Ballot Explained
Ballot Explained launched territory pages in October. They cover the governor’s races in Guam, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the delegate races in all four territories.
Each race page gives every candidate’s background, their stated positions labeled as claims, and their documented record. It includes arguments for and against them, each attributed to a named source, plus a list of what the site could not verify. Each territory’s overview page explains how the winner is decided, lists registration, early-voting, and absentee dates, and says what it does not yet cover, such as the legislatures.
The site says it is “built and run by one independent editor and developer” and that it “does not tell you who to vote for.” It is free, with no accounts. “These pages exist because you wrote,” the team told Pasquines.
The Ballot Brief
The Ballot Brief added a section with a page for each territory voting this year. Each page lists the governor and lieutenant governor ticket where that office is up, the delegate race, the territory’s majority and runoff rules, and a link to its election office. Typing a territory ZIP code into the site’s lookup now leads to the right page.
“We agree the gap was real,” founder Ben Torres Ezrick, a former Google and Zoom executive, told Pasquines. He said every name was checked against the election commissions’ candidate lists. The site discloses that “We use AI to research and write election information. Errors are possible.”
VoteMate
VoteMate, run by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, pairs an AI chat assistant with a voter’s personalized ballot and cites the sources behind each answer. Co-founder Alex Saxerud told Pasquines that its outreach “helped us find a blocker in our system that was preventing us from displaying” the territories. That problem has been corrected, and voters in all four territories can now see their ballots. The site cautions that “VoteMate is AI and can make mistakes.”
Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia, which says its encyclopedic articles are “written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers,” has covered elections in the territories for years. In 2020, it announced it would cover the general elections in all five permanently inhabited territories, from delegate races to legislatures and boards.
For 2026, it has an elections page for each territory. They include Guam and the US Virgin Islands, whose pages cover the races for delegate, governor, other territorial executive offices, and the legislature, along with primary, general election, and runoff dates. Pages for American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands are also live.
Its candidate pages go deeper. They often include past election results, biographies, campaign websites and social media, and campaign finance figures. In American Samoa’s delegate race, for example, Fualaau Rosie Tago Lancaster’s page preserves the platform from her 2024 campaign website, which is no longer online. Candidates can also fill out Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey to explain their positions in their own words. Several territorial candidates, including Lancaster, had not completed it for 2026.
Local guides in Guam and the US Virgin Islands
Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands also have their own homegrown guides.
Vote Smart Guam covers all six races on Guam’s ballot: governor and lieutenant governor, delegate, the Guam Legislature, attorney general, the Consolidated Commission on Utilities, and the Guam Education Board. It says its candidate roster is “transcribed from the Guam Election Commission’s official ballot documents.” Candidates write their own profiles and answers in the same format, and the site shows which candidates have answered voters and which have not. It also offers a “Smart Match” quiz, side-by-side comparisons, forum videos, and a polling site finder.
The site describes itself as “built and run by a small team on island.” It says it accepts no money from any candidate, campaign, party, or caucus. “Vote Smart Guam is fully nonpartisan and independent,” its about page says.
In the Northern Mariana Islands, Marianas Press runs The Election Desk, a dedicated election section with the tagline “Clarity. Context. Coverage you can Trust.” It has published profiles of legislative candidates, such as those seeking Rota’s Senate seats, and coverage of the gubernatorial teams’ final campaign events. It has also reported on a high school forum where students questioned the candidates for governor, and on Commonwealth Election Commission notices for voters. Marianas Press also hosted a gubernatorial debate this cycle.
In the US Virgin Islands, DahVote is “an extension of Brian Louden’s USVI coverage,” including his VI Update. It offers a 2026 election guide to the races and dates, and a plain-language explainer on how the territory’s elections work, from districts and runoffs to absentee voting. It also has a directory of government contacts, which it describes as “sourced and scored.” DahVote says every record “is sourced, dated, and transparent about how it was verified.”
Other tools in Pasquines’ elections center still serve only voters in the states and DC. These include the League of Women Voters’ VOTE411, BallotReady, and LocalCandidates.org, which is in beta and starting with Virginia. LocalCandidates.org’s Tosh Penton said he would like to add the territories’ races “if at all possible.”
All of these guides advise voters to confirm details with their territory’s election office, linked on each of Pasquines’ territory elections pages.
Voter guides
Guides that cover the territories
National
Ballot Explained
Governor in Guam, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands; delegate in all four
Each race page gives every candidate’s background, their stated positions labeled as claims, and their documented record, with arguments for and against them. Free, with no accounts.
Open guideNational
The Ballot Brief
A page for each of the four territories
Each page lists the governor and lieutenant governor ticket where that office is up, the delegate race, the majority and runoff rules, and a link to the election office. A territory ZIP code in its lookup leads to the right page.
Open guideNational
VoteMate
Ballots in all four territories
A nonprofit’s AI chat assistant, paired with your personalized ballot, that cites the sources behind each answer. The site cautions that its AI can make mistakes.
Open guideNational
Ballotpedia
An elections page for each of the four territories
Guam’s and the US Virgin Islands’ pages cover the races for delegate, governor, other territorial executive offices, and the legislature, with primary, general election, and runoff dates. Its candidate pages often include past election results, biographies, campaign websites and social media, and campaign finance figures.
Guam
Vote Smart Guam
All six races on Guam’s ballot
Candidates write their own profiles and answers in the same format, and the site shows who has answered. It also has a “Smart Match” quiz, side-by-side comparisons, forum videos, and a polling site finder.
Open guideNorthern Mariana Islands
The Election Desk
Marianas Press’s election section
Profiles of legislative candidates, coverage of the governor’s race and the campaigns’ final events, and Commonwealth Election Commission notices for voters. Marianas Press also hosted a gubernatorial debate.
Open guideUS Virgin Islands
DahVote
A 2026 guide to the races and dates
A plain-language explainer on how the territory’s elections work, from districts and runoffs to absentee voting, and a directory of government contacts.
Open guidePolls open on November 3, 2026, at these times:
- Guam: 7 am to 8 pm ChST (4 pm November 2 to 5 am November 3 EST)
- Northern Mariana Islands: 7 am to 7 pm ChST (4 pm November 2 to 4 am November 3 EST)
- US Virgin Islands: 7 am to 7 pm AST (6 am to 6 pm EST)
- American Samoa: 6 am to 6 pm SST (noon to midnight EST)
Results will appear in Pasquines’ elections center as each territory reports.
Elections center
The 2026 territory elections, in one place
Pasquines’ elections center has a page for each territory voting on November 3: your ballot, the candidates, results as they come in, help voting, voter resources, and our coverage.
Guam
- Polls open
- 7 am to 8 pm ChST (4 pm November 2 to 5 am November 3 EST)
- On the ballot
- Governor and lieutenant governor, delegate to the US House, the Guam Legislature, attorney general, the Consolidated Commission on Utilities, and the Guam Education Board
- Results
- On the Guam page after polls close at 8 pm ChST
Northern Mariana Islands
- Polls open
- 7 am to 7 pm ChST (4 pm November 2 to 4 am November 3 EST)
- On the ballot
- Governor and lieutenant governor, and delegate to the US House, among others
- Results
- On the Northern Mariana Islands page after polls close at 7 pm ChST
US Virgin Islands
- Polls open
- 7 am to 7 pm AST (6 am to 6 pm EST)
- On the ballot
- Governor and lieutenant governor, and delegate to the US House, among others
- Results
- On the US Virgin Islands page after polls close at 7 pm AST
American Samoa
- Polls open
- 6 am to 6 pm SST (noon to midnight EST)
- On the ballot
- Delegate to the US House, among others
- Results
- On the American Samoa page after polls close at 6 pm SST
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