Early voting numbers in Hamilton County are embarrassingly low. They’re so bad – only 1,864 reported by Monday – I’m starting to wonder if people even know they can vote early right now.
I’m not talking about you. You’re a great American, and of course you know early voting for the Aug. 4 elections runs through next Saturday. No doubt you’ve already gone to the polls yourself. Kudos for that. But you can’t stop there, good citizen. No you can’t. Now you’ve got to help get the word out to everyone else. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors.
Are you reading this at work? If so, go find your nearest colleague and tell them you’ll drive them to cast an early ballot on your lunch break. I’m only half kidding. Better yet, get a lunch hour convoy set up with multiple co-workers. Make sure they know they get stickers if they go. That’s the spirit.
Statewide poll numbers aren’t all that bad – relatively speaking. Through Monday, some 42,000 Tennesseans had voted either by absentee ballot or early voting. According to State Election Coordinator Mark Goins, that’s on par with the 2008 and 2012 summer election turnouts. Speculating, he suggested a few “hotly contested races” around the Volunteer State are keeping this year’s tally from dipping significantly.
Columnist David MartinHere, though: ugh, horrible.