Hamilton County Election Commission figures show 19,629 voters cast ballots during early voting, representing a 9% drop from 2018, in advance of the county’s balloting on Thursday for mayor, district attorney and other posts. The election will also serve as a primary for state and federal offices such as governor and state representatives.
Early voting ended Saturday. Election day will be Thursday.
Early voting plummeted more statewide – 23.77% down from four years earlier when a three-way battle raged in the Republican gubernatorial primary, where candidates spent millions of dollars.
This year, the winner of the 2018 contest – incumbent Republican Gov. Bill Lee – was unopposed in his primary. Three relatively unknown Democrats – Carnita Atwater, a Memphis active, Jason Martin, a Nashville physician, and Memphis City Councilman JB Smiley Jr. – are running and lack funds for mass-market television ad buys.
Just 477,973 voters cast ballots statewide during early voting this year, a 149,021-person drop from 2018, when 626,894 voted in the August election.