While this page does not endorse Zach Wamp’s candidacy for governor of Tennessee – Bill Haslam earned that endorsement for the upcoming Republican primary – we can wholeheartedly support the congressman’s zeal to vote. Mr. Wamp, with family in tow, showed up at his assigned polling station on the first day of early voting last week to cast his ballot in the Aug. 5 election. The event was a carefully calculated photo opportunity for the candidate, of course, but his appearance at the voting station can also serve as a helpful reminder to the general public.
The message, intended or not, is that it is important to vote when you have the time. It is not necessary, thanks to early voting schedules, to wait until Election Day to cast a ballot. If you do, unexpected events might make it difficult to vote in the state primary and county general election. Mr. Wamp obviously will be busy through Aug. 5. Voting last week when he had or made the time to do so obviously serves a political purpose, but it also fulfills his duty as a citizen.
Agree with him or not on other practices and policies, his example in getting to the polls is one to be emulated. Hamilton County and other Tennessee residents can do so with relative ease through the end of the month.
Early voting stations here are open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday at the Brainerd Recreation Center at 1010 North Moore Road and at Northgate Mall next to the Science Theatre. Voters also can cast an early ballot at the Hamilton County Election Commission office at 700 River Terminal Road off Amnicola Highway. It’s open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. The early voting period concludes on July 31.
The early voting option fills a need. Charlotte Mullis-Morgan, administrator of elections for Hamilton County, said that 3,830 voters – a majority of them in the Republican primary – had voted early in the Aug. 5 election by late Tuesday afternoon. “It’s a good start for the first three days of balloting. By comparison, about 4,400 ballots were cast during the entire early voting period in May,” Mrs. Mullis-Morgan said.