Dancing With the Stars Season 35 has opened with two eliminations, a voting-system failure and a new leaderboard leader after its unusual two-night premiere on September 15 and 16.
Voting is now OPEN for all carriers and online – but only for the female celebrities competing tonight! Make sure your favorite female celebrities return to the ballroom next week and cast those votes now, and save your votes for the remaining male celebrities for next week!… pic.twitter.com/rSlh2k9APW
— Dancing with the Stars #DWTS (@officialdwts) September 17, 2026
The voting process quickly became one of the biggest stories of the premiere after ABC’s online system went down during Tuesday’s live show. Viewers were told to switch to text voting, making the rules, timing and correct voting method especially important for fans hoping to keep their favorite couples in the competition.
How to vote on Dancing With the Stars in 2026
During live voting rounds, eligible viewers can vote through the official Dancing With the Stars voting website.
Voting normally opens with the live East Coast broadcast at 8 p.m. ET and closes shortly after the final competitive performance. Eligible voters can cast up to 10 online votes per couple.
U.S. viewers can also vote by text by sending a contestant’s designated keyword to 21523. Text voting generally allows another 10 votes per couple, meaning viewers can potentially cast up to 20 votes for one partnership when both methods are operating.
Online voting is available to eligible viewers in the United States and Canada, while SMS voting is limited to the United States.
DWTS text voting keywords from Wednesday’s premiere
- AMBER — Amber Glenn
- CIARA — Ciara Miller
- GIADA — Giada De Laurentiis
- JENNA — Jenna Dewan
- JULIA — Julia Stiles
- MAURA — Maura Higgins
- SARAH JANE — Sarah Jane Nader
- TATYANA — Tatyana Ali
Those keywords applied to Wednesday’s voting round. Viewers should follow the on-screen instructions during future episodes because the eligible contestant list changes as couples are eliminated.
Online voting failed during Night 1
ABC’s online voting system stopped working during Tuesday’s male-celebrity premiere. Co-host Julianne Hough alerted viewers to the issue before Alfonso Ribeiro later announced that online votes from the affected episode would not count and instructed viewers to rely on text voting.
The outage mattered because DWTS eliminations are determined using a combination of judges’ scores and viewer votes. A technical problem affecting voting can therefore change how fans are able to support contestants during the live elimination window.
Who went home on Dancing With the Stars?
Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman became the first couple eliminated on Tuesday. Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson led the men’s leaderboard with 21/30.
Readers catching up on the opening night can see the DWTS Season 35 results and Conner Leavitt elimination, including the key scores from the first half of the premiere.
Wednesday brought the second elimination, with Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills leaving the competition after receiving 14/30 from the judges.
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Maura Higgins leads the women’s scores
Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas finished Wednesday at the top of the women’s leaderboard with 21/30, matching Harry Shum Jr.’s leading score from Tuesday.
- Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas: 21/30
- Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy: 19/30
- Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov: 18/30
- Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa: 18/30
- Giada De Laurentiis and Alan Bersten: 16/30
- Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong: 15/30
- Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills: 14/30 — eliminated
- Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik: 12/30
The premiere follows another major entertainment competition result this month, with the Ben Shelton US Open final against Alexander Zverev also drawing attention around a high-profile live result.
Voting timing can catch West Coast viewers out
The voting window follows the live East Coast broadcast rather than each local television airing. That means viewers on the West Coast may need to vote before they have seen the full episode locally.
Season 35 airs on ABC and Disney+, with episodes available afterward on Hulu. Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough host, while Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli serve as judges.
After the two-night premiere, 14 celebrity partnerships remain. Viewers planning to participate in the next round should follow the current episode’s voting instructions and submit their votes before the live window closes.
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