Low early voting numbers could indicate low turnout on Thursday

Published 8:53 am Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Election News

Early voting concluded across the state on Saturday, and here locally voter turnout was down compared to the 2012 numbers.
Across the state, a total of 281,269 residents took part in early voting.
When the polls closed on Saturday, a total of 1,381 Carter County residents had cast their vote early. That number includes those persons who early voted any absentee ballots received by the Carter County Election Commission through the closing of the early voting polls on Saturday, Harris said. Also included in that total are the 72 residents of local nursing homes who chose to vote in the election when election officials took voting machines around to the nursing homes prior to the start of early voting.
“We were about 300 less,” said Carter County Administrator of Elections Tracy Harris.
For the state and federal primaries for the Republican and Democrat parties in 2012, at total of 1,636 Carter Countians voted early.
Harris said the lower number for early voting this year could be an indicator that voter turnout at the polls on Thursday could be down as well.
While turnout may be low for the August election, Harris said she anticipates turnout in November for the Presidential election will be extremely high, possibly even record breaking.
“Some of the people who came in to vote this time thought they were voting in the Presidential Election,” Harris said, adding a lot of voters have expressed interest in the November election.
Also, the Carter County Election Commission has already been receiving requests from voters to apply for absentee ballots for the November election. Harris said she feels this is an indicator that the voter turnout in November will be high.
While the Election Commission is already receiving requests to apply for absentee ballots, Harris said her staff cannot begin accepting the applications until August 10. Ballots for the November election will be available some time in September after the candidates are set, Harris said.
The Carter County Election Commission office, located at 116 Holston Ave., will close at Noon on Wednesday in order to allow staff to begin preparing for the election on Thursday, August 4.
Voters seeking more information on Thursday election or needing to find out what district or precinct they are in can contact the Carter County Election Commission at 423-542-1822 or make inquiries in person at their office.

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