Early voting turnout high, says location election offices
JACKSON, Tenn. — With only one day left of early voting, time is winding down for you to cast your ballot to beat the Election Day rush.
At the Madison County Agricultural Complex, people were still heading in to vote early.
“Early voting is going very well. Great turnout. Our numbers are a little up from 2014. Roughly around 2,100. We’re down from 2018 about 6,000 votes. In 2018, there was a U.S. Senate seat on the ballot, so that really brings the voters out,” said Lori Lott, the Administrator of Elections.
Surrounding counties like Hardin, Henderson, Crockett, and Gibson County were in agreeance that the number of early voters were higher than the last few years. However, these numbers were lower than four years ago.
Lott compared previous years to this year.
“Like I said, 2014, we voted 10,402 in early voting, and we will hit that today with one more day to go. And so 2018, we are certainly down because of that U.S. Senate seat that was on the ballot about 6,000 votes. Of course 2020 was a presidential year, so that was a blow out,” said Lott.
Voters also talked about what brought them to the polls to vote.
“I wanted to come out and vote today to support our state and also our city. I want to be an active representative of the people, and my family, and just be a part of what is going on in our state these days,” said Muna Gwartney, an early voter.
“I just wanted my voice to be heard. I think it’s easy to get caught up in, ‘Well, my one vote out of millions won’t help.’ But it really does, and if everyone has that mindset, you can truly have an impact on who gets elected,” said Gage Gwartney, an early voter.
Majority of the people early voting generally preferred this method opposed to arriving on Election Day.
“I think it kind of gives everybody the chance to be able get out and to be a part and have that opportunity,” said Muna Gwartney.
“I do. Especially once you have already gathered a ton of information about the candidates that are running. Might as well get an early jump on it before it gets too crowded,” said Gage Gwartney.
Of course there is still one more day for early voting. For early voting, you can vote at the election commission. However, on Election Day you must vote in your precinct.
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