Hamilton County Administrator of Elections Scott Allen said he does not anticipate the nation’s widespread postal service issues to affect mail-in ballots in the county or across Tennessee in the Nov. 5 general election.
In a phone interview, Allen cited the state’s two-week early voting period and absentee ballot restrictions as reasons for fewer mail-in ballots in Tennessee compared to states like California that allow all registered voters to mail ballots if they choose.
“We just had a conference call with the postal service in Tennessee, a statewide call, and they’re prepared to assist in any way, and we’ve traditionally never had a major issue here in Hamilton County getting ballots returned,” Allen said.
In the past three presidential elections, the Hamilton County Election Commission had a 99 percent return rate on ballots received by mail, according to Nate Foster, assistant administrator of elections.
Hamilton County mail-in ballots 2012-2020
November 2012: 3,786 ballots cast through mail
November 2016: 4,035 ballots cast through mail
November 2020: 17,802 ballots cast through mail
Source: Hamilton County Election Commission
The election commission has already received 2,000 absentee ballot requests for the Nov. 5 election, which puts the commission on track to have 4,000 to 5,000 total, Foster said in an email.
“In 2020, we experienced an abnormally high number of ballots through the mail due to COVID concerns from voters,” Foster said in the email. “Overall, I would say we are on track with what is considered normal for us in a presidential election.”
The election commission officially approved ballots Wednesday for the general election and will be mailing them out starting Oct. 1.
Voters concerned about the status of their ballots can call the election commission at 423-209-8683 or email Vote@HamiltonTN.gov.
Contact Sarah Dolgin at sdolgin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6556.