As we head to the polls on Tuesday, area television stations are planning to keep voters tuned in to track results to see if the candidates they voted for made it to office.

Leading up to election day is when the area TV, radio and print outlets get a nice bump in advertising dollars for the last push before the polls open. But that well of dollars will dry up, and the outlet with the "best" political coverage hopes to keep you from bouncing down the dial.

With an election and a need for political coverage at the top of a sweeps period, it can make all the difference in what a station can charge for commercial airtime from now until May.

From Monday, throughout the day on Tuesday and into the morning hours of Wednesday, we will see the best political coverage in the market.

"Viewers have counted on the Fox 6 News team in the past to bring them comprehensive coverage throughout Election Night. We are ready to do it for them again," said John LaPorte, the news director at WITI-TV.

"Our team of journalists has been preparing throughout this year to cover this important election -- they are very excited about covering this historic night. We know the results matter to our viewers and we are ready to serve them."

LaPorte said that WITI will start with special coverage at 8 p.m. and has reporters assigned to the top, key races. Mike Lowe will be with Gov. Scott Walker in the Milwaukee area and Bret Lemoine will report from Madison with Mary Burke’s campaign staff. Lowe and Lemoine have been covering the candidates for Governor during the campaign, LaPorte said. Fox 6 will have reporters with the candidates in the Attorney General Race.

"In addition, we have crews covering the Congressional races in the 6th, 4th and 1st Districts," LaPorte said.

Anchored by Mike Gousha, Kathy Mykleby, Craig Mckee and Joyce Garbaciak, local coverage of the midterm elections will begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WISN-TV ABC 12. The election night coverage will also include an ABC special, "Your Voice Your Vote," with George Stephanopoulos at 9 p.m.

"These races affect the lives of our viewers. That’s why we are beginning our coverage the second polls close and the community is looking for results. We will also extend our coverage at 10 p.m. as key races are being decided," said Chris Gegg, the news director at WISN.

"Our bench of seasoned journalists is deep, allowing us to go beyond the results and provide perspective local viewers can’t find anywhere else."

For WTMJ-TV NBC 4, the station’s coverage will start with its local news block that runs throughout the afternoon.

"We'll certainly have plenty of election coverage Tuesday afternoon. Our election night coverage will begin at 8 p.m. and we'll stay on the air until we have a winner in the Governor's race," said Janet Hundley, the news director at WTMJ.

"Our coverage will pick up again in the morning at 4:30 a.m., unless we're all up all night waiting for the race to be called."

Hundley said that there will be eight live news crews covering the major races.

"We'll also have a social media center tracking voter reaction throughout the night in addition to an independent political analyst on set. All of our coverage will be led by the most experienced anchor team in the market, Mike Jacobs and Carole Meekins."

WDJT-TV CBS 58 will feature election coverage inside its newscasts throughout the day, and will also have national updates from CBS News.

AT WITI, the 9 and 10 p.m. newscasts will focus heavily on the election results. Brad Hicks and Stephanie Grady will anchor Fox 6 News at 9 p.m. while Ted Perry and Mary Stoker Smith will anchor the newscast 10 p.m. All four anchors will be involved in the election special airing at 8 p.m.

"Our anchor teams have years of experience covering both local and national elections. The entire news team is ready to stay on late into the night depending on how the election plays out," LaPorte said.

Mike Gousha, the award-winning political journalist and host of WISN 12’s "UpFront," will bring his insight to WISN as results are tallied. Gousha is familiar with both major Wisconsin races, having interviewed candidates for Governor and Attorney General extensively in recent months. Kathy Mykleby, Joyce Garbaciak and Craig Mckee will round out the anchor team, bringing up-to-the-minute results from state and nationwide races, the station reported.

The special coverage on WISN will feature live coverage from the campaign headquarters of key state races, including the gubernatorial and attorney general candidates. Reporters Kent Wainscott, Terry Sater, Nick Bohr and Colleen Henry will provide coverage from campaign headquarters and polling locations.

Among the journalists joining George Stephanopoulos’ ABC election night coverage will be "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir, ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, Chief Global Affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz and "Nightline" anchor Dan Harris. ABC News political journalist Cokie Roberts will provide analysis from Washington, D.C. 

"The combination of WISN 12 and ABC News makes us a powerful destination for election night coverage," said Jan Wade, the president and GM at WSN.

"I am very proud of our news team’s dedication to political journalism, since this is an important part of our mission of leading the way with important local coverage. With so much at stake in this election cycle, it is our job and responsibility to break it all down for our viewers so that they know what the results mean for them." .

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Professor Mordecai Lee will be providing his expert analysis on WITI as the election results come in.

"He is an important part of our Election team," LaPorte said. "We are both fortunate and proud to have him working with us." 

WITI will have producers and anchors monitoring social media throughout the evening. The Fox stations’ coverage will start with "Fox 6 News Wake Up" at 4:30 a.m., and the station will have reporters on site as the polls open. Throughout the day WITI will cover voting and last minute campaigning.