Early voting numbers slightly below 2010 figures

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Despite a slow start, early voting in Hamilton County picked up by the end.

There was a line to the door at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the Northgate Mall early voting location, next to the Old Navy.

Will Coulter said he waited 40 minutes to cast his ballot. And it was worth the wait.

"The Senate race and the congressional race, that's really important. And Amendment 1, that's really important to a lot of people," he said. "I just always get out and vote."

Along with municipal elections, Hamilton County residents are voting on the gubernatorial race, which Gov. Bill Haslam is widely expected to win, along with races in the U.S. Senate and the state's 3rd Congressional District in the Nov. 4 election.

Four proposed constitutional amendments, dealing with abortion legislation, income tax, judicial selection and veteran fundraising, are also on the ballot, along with referenda to allow wine sales in grocery stores.

After the first five days of early voting, Hamilton County -- and the rest of the state -- were seeing a 30 percent drop in turnout compared to the last midterm election in 2010. And those numbers had election officials and party heads worried. But by Thursday, the last day of early voting in Tennessee, Hamilton County at least had closed the gap.

On Thursday, Hamilton County Election Commissioner Kerry Steelman said turnout increased exponentially over the last three days of early voting.

"Questions regarding the ballot have waned as voters appear to be more educated on the issues. The vast majority of these voters are in and out of the polls within a matter of minutes -- unlike the first week and a half," Steelman said.

By close of early voting Thursday, 26,302 Hamilton County residents made it to the polls during the 14-day early voting period. That was nearly a 4 percent decrease over the 27,332 voters who cast ballots in the 2010 midterm election.

Statewide numbers were not immediately available Thursday evening, but according to Tennessee secretary of state records, turnout was about 20 percent lower than in 2010 after the first 13 days of early voting. According to records, 526,849 people cast votes as of Wednesday, and by the same time in 2010, 636,225 residents had cast ballots.

Meanwhile, early voting in Georgia ends today.

As of Thursday morning, 709,992 of the state's 5 million active registered voters had cast ballots during early voting, according to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp. And more than 631,000 of those ballots were cast in-person, Kemp said in a press release Thursday.

Contact staff writer Louie Brogdon at lbrogdon@timesfreepress.com, @glbrogdoniv on Twitter or at 423-757-6481.

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