Early voter numbers top Tennessee, Hamilton County records

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Early voting in Hamilton County

Tennessee and Georgia voters turned out in record numbers for early voting this year in the run-up to next week's election.

Tennesseans cast 1,675,679 early votes and absentee ballots from Oct. 19-Nov. 3, breaking the state's early ballot high-water mark of 1,579,960 votes in 2008.

Preliminary 2016 figures indicate Thursday, the last day of Tennessee's 14-day early voting period, racked up 152,152 ballots - the most cast in a single day for the state.

"I'm thrilled people are engaged and took advantage of the convenience of early voting," Secretary of State Tre Hargett announced Friday. "Now our attention turns to Election Day to ensure we continue to conduct fair and honest elections across the state."

Intense interest in this year's presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton is the main draw.

No statewide officials are on the ballot and most of the remaining contests involve congressional and legislative contests, as well as local referendums and some municipal elections.

Hamilton County residents cast a total of 73,793 ballots during the early voting period. Early voters cast 70,161 of those ballots in person - 4,148 more than in-person early ballots cast in 2012 - and the other 3,632 by mail. Voters generated 6,761 ballots on Wednesday, compared to 6,323 ballots on Thursday, bucking the statewide last-day blowout.

The Hamilton County Election Commission office saw the most action of the county's early voting locations, handling 24,054 of the early votes. In 2012, voters cast 18,577 early ballots at the office.

Hamilton County has an estimated 247,000 registered voters, according to the county election office.

Both local Democratic and Republican party leaders expressed enthusiasm over the numbers.

"We are really excited about early voter turnout," Hamilton County Democratic Chairman Terry Lee said, citing heavy foot traffic at the Brainerd Recreation Center. Hamilton County voters cast 14,106 early ballots at that facility, compared to 15,858 in 2012.

Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Tony Sanders said his party has been collecting and crunching raw polling data.

"We've got a lot of people engaged, whether they are voting against someone or for someone," Sanders said. "We also have a lot of people voting for the first time."

Party calculations now indicate more than 5,800 first-time voters cast ballots during the early voting period, he said.

When combined with independent voters, those first-time voters create a significant unknown, making it hard to generate a precise endgame model for how the presidential contest will play out in Hamilton County, Sanders said.

Hamilton County voters actually cast more early ballots in 2012 than in 2008, amounting to 70,669 and 68,137, respectively. However, the 2008 early ballots accounted for a larger percentage of the number of registered voters. Those early vote totals include around 4,700 mail-in ballots for each of the election cycles.

Election Day ballots surpassed early votes in both 2008 and 2012. In 2012, Hamilton County voters cast 71,492 ballots on Election Day; in 2008, they cast 80,343.

Earlier this week, Hargett said he wasn't sure whether the high numbers in early voting would mean a record-breaking turnout in Tennessee's overall totals in Tuesday's election.

Hargett, who had previously said early voting could account for 60 percent of the entire vote, said it's possible that more Tennesseans are just voting early.

Tennesseans broke voting records on the March 1 presidential preference primary, casting 1.24 million ballots, Hargett said.

Georgia has also broken voting records, already surpassing 2008 early ballot numbers before the last day of early voting Friday.

So far, 2.18 million ballots have been cast in Georgia for the Nov. 8 election, compared to the just over 2.13 million early ballots cast in 2008, Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced Friday. Just over 2 million of the 2016 ballots were cast in person, and 166,875 were mail-in ballots.

"Georgia voters are highly enthusiastic and taking full advantage of unprecedented access to the ballot box to make sure their voices are heard," Kemp said. "Technology and hard work by our state and county election officials have made the right to vote easier and easier to exercise over the past decade."

Alabama does not offer early voting for its residents.

Staff writer Andy Sher contributed to this story.

Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @pleach_tfp.