Jean Crates places her ballot stub in a box during early voting at the Hamilton County Election Commission on Tuesday, July 19, 2016, in Chattanooga.EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS/HOURS
Hamilton County Early Voting Hours/Locations:Brainerd Rec Center1010 North Moore RoadMonday-Saturday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.Eastwood Baptist Church4300 Ooltewah-Ringgold RoadMonday-Saturday: 10 a.m-6 p.m. North River Civic Center1009 Executive Drive, Suite 102Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.Election Commission Office700 River Terminal RoadMonday-Friday: 8 a.m.-7 p.m.Saturday: 9 a.m-6 p.m.
NASHVILLE - State officials say 41,579 Tennesseans cast early votes or absentee ballots through Monday in the Aug. 4 state primary races and county general election contests.
Hamilton County Election Commission figures, meanwhile, show a three-day total of 1,864 people already voting in county general election contests such as county school board and property assessor and state primaries for the state General Assembly and Congress.
Tennessee's two-week early voting period began Friday in all 95 counties. It goes through July 30.
State figures include not only early voting, but absentee voters, as well. According to State Election Coordinator Mark Goins, that's how they are reported at this point by counties to the state.
Hamilton County's website shows 1,429 people voted Friday, Saturday and Monday at early voting sites in Brainerd, Collegedale, Northgate and the Election Commission.
Another 435 people voted absentee.
Kerry B. Steelman, the county's administrator of elections, said Tuesday that voting was down the first three days by some 60 percent from 2014 primaries, which included a contested U.S. Senate Republican primary, a hard-fought 3rd Congressional District GOP primary and a number of top county offices.
This cycle, there are no statewide contests and the 3rd Congressional District race is largely uneventful. But there are three contested legislative primaries, as well as contests for property assessor and school board.
Steelman said he was at the Northgate site and "noticed that it appears to be picking up the pace there."
"The November election is the election that everyone is familiar with, all voters are familiar with getting out and voting in November," Steelman said. "But oftentimes, the August election is overlooked. The August election is the election where we elect local leaders. This is the county general election. This is where government is closest to us here at home."
State Election Coordinator Goins said that the 2016 summer pace of voting is comparable to 2012 and 2008, where there was a somewhat similar lack of big statewide primary contests, along with the same absence of top general election contests like mayor and sheriff that typically help drive voter interest.
In August 2008, for example, there were about 206,000 early voters and 11,267 voters casting ballots by mail, collectively accounting for 38.64 percent of the total 562,795 votes cast.
This year, there are areas with some hotly contested races, Goins noted.
"We're on track to meet that [2008] number or maybe exceed that a little bit," Goins said, later adding "we'd like a bigger turnout."
Goins said that is likely to happen this fall, because of the presidential race.
"I expect in November you're going to see a completely different election where voting is going to be out the roof," Goins said.