Former state Rep. JoAnne Favors on Wednesday became the first person to cast a ballot in the 2024 presidential election in Hamilton County.
“I wanted to come so I could hurry up and get it done so I could continue to talk to people,” Favors said in an interview. “I’ve been making a lot of telephone calls and talking to people on email from all over the country.”
Early voting in Tennessee began at 8 a.m. Wednesday, and voters flocked to the Hamilton County Election Commission waiting for the doors to open, many bundled up for the sub-40-degree weather.
Favors, 82, was born and raised in Alton Park, a neighborhood in South Chattanooga. She is a retired nurse and former health facilities administrator, former Hamilton County commissioner and served in the Tennessee House of Representatives as a Democrat from her election in 2004 until 2018. She was succeeded by state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga.
Favors said she is a lifelong Democrat and is happy to see Vice President Kamala Harris running in the presidential election. She voted for Harris and said she voted for Democrats down the ballot. The issues most important to Favors are inflation, gun violence, education and health care. She said she is concerned that TennCare was not expanded in Tennessee as allowed by the federal Medicaid program.
THE NUMBERS
Hamilton County Administrator of Elections Scott Allen said by phone that all six early voting locations, including a recently added location on Snow Hill Road in Ooltewah, are seeing high turnout. He said things could always slow down as the early voting period continues, but at this point, the election commission anticipates strong participation.
“Based on our initial projections, if it stays at the rate it is now,” Allen said, “and what historically we see turnout in early voting as it gets toward the end, the numbers right now show we should blow past what we saw in 2020 for early voting turnout.”
(READ MORE: Hamilton County, region see voter turnout surge)
As of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, 5,467 people had cast ballots in Hamilton County.
In 2020, the first day of early voting had 5,937 voters and 103,591 total voters by the last day.
In 2016, 5,157 voters cast ballots on the first day of early voting, and 73,793 voters had cast ballots by the end of the early voting period.
(READ MORE: Excitement brewing among Chattanooga-area voters for final weeks)
VOTERS
Marta Delgado, 66, has lived in Hamilton County for 42 years and lives in the Bonny Oaks-Highway 58 area. She said she regularly votes in elections. The most important issues, she said, are unborn children and economics.
“If you don’t respect life, you don’t respect anything,” Delgado said in an interview.
Delgado voted for former President Donald Trump and said she voted Republican down the ballot.
Ryan Young, 38, has lived in Hamilton County for three years and is from Kentucky. Young ran from his home in North Shore to the election commission, donning an American flag hat. He said he is typically left-leaning and voted for all Democratic candidates on the ballot this time around. Young said abortion, the economy and democracy are his top issues.
Young said he votes early whenever he can but made a point to vote early in this election.
“It felt like a special one to come out, first chance I could,” Young said in an interview.
Omar Gearing, 22, voted for the first time. Gearing was born and raised in Chattanooga and lives downtown.
“I’ve realized how important it is to get active in the community, by researching, knowing as much as you can about what’s going on,” Gearing said in an interview, “not just voting nationally, but locally as well.”
Gearing said he used to align more with the Democratic Party but moved to the center as he got older. He voted for Trump and all Republicans on the ballot after researching each candidate, he said. Gearing said he was surprised by how much he aligned with U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is seeking reelection as Tennessee’s senior senator.
Gearing said tax rates, foreign policy and immigration policy are his top three issues.
Blake Wright, 32, and her mother, Darin Wright, 60, decided to vote early so they could vote together and go out for brunch afterward. Blake Wright lives on Missionary Ridge, and Darin Wright lives in Red Bank. The mother-daughter duo were decked out in red and blue attire and said they were just missing white.
Darin Wright said her top issues were democracy, women’s issues and the economy.
“I just love having the opportunity to use my voice,” Darin Wright said in an interview, “and to, hopefully, make a difference.”
Blake Wright voted for Harris and all Democrats on the ballot, and Darin Wright declined to disclose how she voted. They both said that voters should research the candidates on the ballot.
“It’s not an SAT situation,” Blake Wright said in an interview. “You can bring your phone in, you can Google, you can look at Instagram, you can drink coffee, you can take your time while you vote. You don’t have to treat it like a test.”
Sue Anne Brown, 78, has been a Hamilton County resident for 45 years and lives in North Chattanooga. She said she identifies with the Republican Party and voted for Trump. Brown also supported Trump in previous elections, she said.
“What I don’t like is him calling people names. That’s silly, it’s immature,” Brown said in an interview. “But I do like all his policies, and that’s more important.”
She said her top issues include the border, immigration and crime, and that she wants to see change from the current administration.
Nick Carty, 67, has lived in Chattanooga for seven years. Before that, he lived in Dalton and was originally from Little Rock, Arkansas.
He said he was happy to vote early and was surprised by the high turnout. Carty said he’s always voted Democrat down the line.
“My values align much more with the Democratic Party,” Carty said in an interview. “I favor a woman’s right to her reproductive choices. I’m for stricter common sense gun laws, including a complete ban on assault weapons, and there’s a third issue that’s kind of interesting, the election itself.”
He said it’s sad that people have to be concerned about the election and that someone who formerly denied the results of the election could be in office again. Carty also said the separation of church and state is important to him.
Rusty Watson, 67, and his wife Christina Watson, 55, moved back to the Chattanooga area three years ago after living in Florida. They reside in the North Shore neighborhood. Both voted for Trump.
Christina Watson cited morals, fairness and making the country great again as the main issues drawing her out to vote. She said she also wants to make sure Blackburn is reelected. Rusty Watson cited the economy, immigration and fighting socialism as his main concerns.
Franklin Tiller, 83, grew up in the Chattanooga area and left when he was 16. He moved back from Houston to the Riverside neighborhood three months ago, and it is his first time voting in Hamilton County. He said he typically votes and considers himself to be an independent most of the time. Honesty, democracy and a candidate acting on their words are the issues important to Tiller.
He voted for Harris and all other Democratic candidates on the ticket.
“Voting is a privilege,” Tiller said in an interview. “We should do it every opportunity.”
Molly Hopkins, 66, is from Alabama and has lived in Hamilton County for 35 years. Hopkins is a resident of East Brainerd. She said that any issue that has a biblical foundation is important to her.
She voted for Trump and all other Republican candidates, including U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, of Ooltewah.
“I just voted for people that I had had experience with,” Hopkins said in an interview.
Hopkins said she thinks it’s a crime to not vote.
Kevin Bandy, 52, has lived in Hamilton County for a year and a half. He moved from Silicon Valley.
Bandy said he doesn’t typically identify with one political party. Bandy voted for Harris. He said stability and long-term economic prowess for the U.S. are his main issues.
“I think there’s far too much focus on faith, religion, guns and I have no idea how those are actually a topic,” Bandy said in an interview. “It’s very unique to the Southeast to see faith, religion, babies on political things.”
Contact Sarah Dolgin at sdolgin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6556.