More voters than expected turned out Wednesday morning for the start of early voting for the Presidential and county primary elections.
Before the polls opened on Wednesday, election officials presented the voting machines for inspection by representatives of the local Republican and Democrat parties. Harris inspected the seals on the machines to check for evidence of tampering before they were opened. Once the machines were opened, a “zero tape” was printed showing that no votes had been cast on the machine. The zero tape for each machine was then signed a representative for each political party.
Harris said she had not anticipated as many voters turning out on Wednesday due to the winter weather. “It went really well for it to be so cold outside,” she said. Wednesday was also the first day voting was held at the Election Commission’s new office at 116 Holston Avenue.
When the polls opened at 9 a.m. five people were already waiting in line to cast their ballots. By the time the polls closed at 4 p.m. a total of 127 residents had voted in person at the Election Commission office, said Administrator of Elections Tracy Harris. During the last Presidential primary in 2012, Harris said only 95 voters turned out to cast their ballots on the first day of early voting.
The Election Commission has also received 65 absentee ballots for the primary. Last week election officials took a voting machine around to all the local nursing homes and a total of 80 residents cast their ballots there. In total, 272 ballots have been completed in Carter County thus far.
Harris said she anticipates that voter turnout will remain high through early voting and will also be high on Election Day due to the large interest in the Presidential race as well as the contested race for a seat on the Carter County Commission representing the First District.
State officials are also anticipating a large turnout of voters across the state.
Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, whose office includes the State Election Commission, is encouraging voters to take advantage of early voting for a number of reasons.
“This election cycle voting early may be an important option because of unpredictable winter weather,” Hargett said. “The number of presidential candidates as well as the number of delegates could also create incredibly long ballots for some voters.”
On March 1, Tennessee will join six other souther states in casting votes to help choose the candidates for the Presidential election, something that could make the state’s clout during the primary season mean more interest in the election than in years past, Hargett said.
“I’m trying to remember the last time we were seeing this much attention in a Republican primary, this many people paying attention to Tennessee and southern states,” Hargett said. “I can’t think of a time.”
Early voting runs Mondays through Saturdays and ends on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Polls will be open for early voting from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. until Noon on Saturdays. Early voting is being held at the Carter County Election Commission office at 116 Holston Avenue.
While some Election Commissions across the state will close on Monday, Feb. 15 for President’s Day, the Carter County Election Commission will remain open for early voting on that day.
Election Day voting will take place on March 1 at each precinct throughout the county with polls open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Both Harris and Hargett want to remind voters to make sure they bring a valid photo identification with them when they come to vote. The ID must be a state or federal government issued photo ID. College identification cards are not an acceptable form of identification for use in voting, Hargett said.
Hargett encourages voters who own smart phones to download the state’s voting app — GoVoteTN — which will allow them to find their early voting and election day polling locations, view and mark sample ballots, see their elected officials, districts and county election commission information, as well as provide online access to election results. The app is free and can be found in the App Store for iPhones or in Google Play for Android phones.