How VMAs voting works for the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards
Fans take part in VMAs voting online or on a mobile device at MTV's official voting site, and through Instagram Stories for Song of Summer and Best Group. Voters must be at least 13, the rules give no country list, and the standard limit is 10 votes per person per category per day. General voting for 2026 ran from August 18 to September 25 and has closed; Best New Artist voting ended on September 27.
Compiled by BuyContestVotesNow editorial desk / Checked
The 2026 schedule: opening, closing and the Best New Artist extension
The 2026 VMAs voting windows have closed. General voting ran from August 18 to September 25, and the Best New Artist category stayed open past that date, ending on September 27 immediately before its on-air award announcement.
The rules give the opening and closing times as at or around figures: 9:00 a.m. ET on August 18 and 5:59 p.m. ET on September 25. The vma voting deadline for the main categories was therefore the evening of September 25, Eastern time; the rules leave the exact minute to the organiser.
The vmas voting schedule has one more line: Best New Artist voting continued until immediately before the on-air announcement on September 27, 2026. The rules tie that close to the broadcast, so no clock time is printed for it. BTS-related voting sat inside the general window, from August 18 to September 25, 2026, and the sources checked name no kpop category and describe no separate vmas voting kpop ballot.
No upcoming window is dated in the sources checked, and no end date beyond the 2026 ones is given. Any date for the next edition comes from MTV's official rules, the document that stated the 2026 period.
- August 18, 2026: general voting opens
- September 25, 2026: general voting closes
- September 27, 2026: Best New Artist voting ends
MTV's voting site, mobile access and the submit button
Online voting for the main categories happens at MTV's official voting site, and the rules add that votes can be cast on a mobile device too. A voter clicks the button beside a nominee's image or video, then follows the on-screen instructions to complete the process. The submit button inside each category finishes the job, and the site's own line says to hit submit to lock in the ballot.
The vmas voting website is MTV's own voting site; the sources checked name no other place to cast a main-category ballot. A vmas voting link from anywhere else, including one passed along in a social post or listed on a fan page, sits outside what the rules describe, so the official site is the place to find the ballot.
The rules describe no separate vmas voting app: online voting, which includes a mobile device, and Instagram Stories are the two routes they name.
Best Group and Song of Summer: the Instagram Stories route
Song of Summer and Best Group carry their own route: MTV's Instagram Stories. The rules tell voters to submit nominee preferences there during the applicable voting period, as instructed in the rules' own table.
The sources checked do not reproduce that table, so the dates of the Stories period are not printed here; the rules' own text is where they sit. The Best Group route is the only group ballot the sources checked describe.
Ten votes per category per day: the cap and its exceptions
The standard limit is ten votes per person per category per day, except during designated Power Hours and Double Days. The 2025 rules allowed the same ten votes per person per category per day, so the base cap did not change between the two editions.
A vmas voting power hour is one of those designated periods: during Power Hours and Double Days the number of permitted votes increases, and the rules do not specify the increased number. No figure is printed here for that reason, and the rules point to further details below the limit clause. Their dates are not given in the sources checked.
The cap is counted per category and per day, so ten votes in one category leave the allowance for the next category untouched, and the count renews each day.
Who can vote: age, employer and location rules
Voters must be at least 13 years old at the time of voting, or the minimum age in the jurisdiction where they live, according to the official 2026 rules. The rules also bar employees, agents and representatives of Paramount, its parent company and its affiliates.
Location is handled by a void-where-prohibited clause. The rules give no country list, and they void voting where prohibited or restricted by law, so eligibility by country turns on local law rather than on a list of named countries.
The rules checked do not say how age or employer status is verified, and they list no check on where a voter is.
- Age: at least 13, or the local minimum age
- Barred: employees, agents and representatives of Paramount
- Location: void where prohibited or restricted by law
- Country list: none given in the rules
Rule breaches: detection and penalties in the official rules
How MTV detects a fake vote is not described in the sources checked, and no penalty, removal of votes or disqualification procedure is stated either, so none is described here. The rules do state the conditions a vote must meet: the age line, the employer bar, the daily cap per category and the void-where-prohibited clause.
The count behind the ballot belongs to MTV and Paramount, the sponsor named in the rules; nothing on this page changes it.
| Category group | Where to vote | Closed |
|---|---|---|
| Main categories | MTV's voting site, online or on a mobile device | September 25, 2026 |
| Song of Summer, Best Group | MTV's Instagram Stories | Not stated in the sources checked |
| Best New Artist | Not stated separately in the sources checked | September 27, 2026 |
| BTS-related voting | Inside the general window | September 25, 2026 |
Do this in order
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Enter the ballot from MTV's official site
Go to MTV's official voting site on a computer or a mobile device. Online voting for the main categories is cast there, and the rules describe no separate voting app.
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Pick a nominee and follow the prompts
Click the button beside the nominee's image or video, then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.
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Submit the ballot in each category
Click the submit button within the category and follow the instructions to complete voting. The official site's own line says to hit submit to lock in the ballot.
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Use Instagram Stories for two categories
For Song of Summer and Best Group, submit nominee preferences through MTV's Instagram Stories during the applicable voting period, as the rules instruct.
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Check the window before voting
General voting for 2026 closed on September 25 and Best New Artist voting on September 27, so the 2026 ballots were shut by the review date of this page. A later edition's voting period is stated in its official rules.
Fast answers
How to vote for the MTV VMAs in 2026?
Vote online or on a mobile device at MTV's official voting site: click the button beside a nominee, follow the on-screen instructions and submit within the category. Song of Summer and Best Group voting uses MTV's Instagram Stories. The 2026 windows have closed: general voting ended on September 25 and Best New Artist voting on September 27.
Can you vote for the VMAs?
Fans can vote in the VMA categories online or on a mobile device, and Song of Summer and Best Group voting uses MTV's Instagram Stories. Voters must be at least 13 years old, or the minimum age where they live, and employees, agents and representatives of Paramount and related companies are barred. The rules give no country list, and voting is void where law prohibits or restricts it. The 2026 windows have closed.
When does VMAs voting start in 2026?
General voting for the 2026 VMAs started on August 18, 2026, at or around 9:00 a.m. ET, according to the official rules. The sources checked give no separate start for Best New Artist or for the Instagram Stories categories.
When does MTV VMA voting end?
General voting for the 2026 VMAs ended on the evening of September 25, 2026, Eastern time, and Best New Artist voting ended on September 27, 2026, immediately before its on-air award announcement. The sources checked print no clock time for the Best New Artist close.
How many times can you vote for the VMAs?
The standard limit is 10 votes per person per category per day, except during designated Power Hours and Double Days. During those periods the number of permitted votes increases, and the rules do not specify the increased number. The 2025 rules allowed ten votes per person per category per day as well.
How to vote for VMAs Best Group?
Best Group voting uses MTV's Instagram Stories: voters submit nominee preferences there during the applicable voting period, as the rules instruct. Song of Summer voting uses the same route. The sources checked do not reproduce the rules' table of Stories dates.
Do Power Hours and Double Days change the VMAs voting limit?
Power Hours and Double Days raise the number of permitted votes while they last, but the rules checked do not say by how much or when they fall. Outside them the limit stays at 10 votes per person per category per day. The limit clause refers readers to further details below it in the official rules.
References
The organiser sets each voting window, counts the votes and rules on any vote it finds invalid, and this page cannot change a count, a ranking or a result. A purchase of votes for any contest or poll, the VMAs included, does not alter the age rule, the daily cap per category or the bar on Paramount employees.
Each organiser's own terms decide which votes are valid, and an organiser can void votes or disqualify an entry. ITV's Love Island terms limit each registered mobile number to one vote per voting event and rule out any method the terms do not state. America's Got Talent asks voters to register and accept its official voting rules, with a cap of ten votes per act, per voting method, per voting window. The American Music Awards decided each winner by the total of valid votes in the category.
Organisers write an ordinary voter down in numbers. The American Music Awards allowed up to 30 votes per award per day on each voting platform, the NASCAR All-Star Race fan vote allowed five a day per unique email address, and the iHeartRadio Music Awards allowed 50 a day per category. A crowd of separate voters stays inside limits like these and arrives day by day, with busier days when an organiser opens a boost. This describes how organisers count; it is not a way around a check.
We give no legal advice and cite no statute: the terms that bind a fan vote are the organiser's own, and they fix who may vote. Dancing with the Stars online voters must be at least 18 and in the United States, its territories or Canada; Love Island USA voting is open to US residents aged 18 or older, or with parental permission. We refuse member-only ballots such as the ACM Awards, categories an organiser decides itself, as MTV did with Best Video, and any vote for public office.
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The part of a request that is not delivered before the organiser's voting closes is refunded. A result, a disqualification and a voided vote are never refunded, because the organiser decides all three. Nor is a vote's worth inside the format covered: the MLB All-Star ballot did not carry Phase 1 totals into Phase 2, and at The Game Awards fan voting is one tenth of the vote that decides winners.