NASHVILLE - An estimated 84,000 Tennesseans took advantage of early voting in the program's first three days, according to the secretary of state's website.
The largest turnout was Friday, the first day, with a total of 46,706 people across Tennessee's 95 counties casting ballots in Aug. 2 elections that feature county general election contests, as well as federal and state party primaries that include Republican and Democratic contests for governor.
On Day 2 of early voting on Saturday, the numbers plummeted statewide to 15,534. But preliminary figures picked up slightly on Monday when voting resumed, with 21,854 casting ballots, according to the website.
According to the website, maintained by Secretary of State Tre Hargett's Division of Elections, there were 56,654 voters who participated in state and/or federal Republican primaries over the first three days, while another 23,013 voters cast ballots in Democratic primary contests.
In Hamilton County, a total of 2,579 persons cast ballots on Friday and Saturday, with 1,475 voting in Republican primaries and 1,074 casting ballots in Democratic contests.
Figures include those hitting early voting sites as well as the typically far smaller amount of voters casting absentee ballots.
Asked whether there were any problems, Hargett spokesman Adam Ghassemi said in an email that "the only thing we've heard about is one early voting site opening late in Shelby County which has been widely reported."
Tennessee's early voting has proved popular, with half or a little more of all ballots in 2016 being cast during the two-week voting period.
It's also changed how campaigns are run, accelerating advertising, attacks and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Early voting continues through July 28.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.