A record-breaking 1,675,679 people voted early in Tennessee, Secretary of State Tre Hargett announced Friday, eclipsing by nearly 100,000 voters the previous record set in 2008.
Many of us love the convenience of early voting, the fact that, at least in Hamilton County, we can select six of the seven weekdays within two weeks and any of three or four locations at which to cast our ballot. Our black ovals darkened, we don't have to worry on Election Day about weather, long lines and any last-minute emergency that might keep us from getting to our polling place.
Nearly four in 10 voters this year across the country, up from fewer than one in five in 2000, are expected to have voted early. Potentially, 40 to 50 million people could vote early.
In Hamilton County, 73,793 people voted early, ranging from 6,761 on Wednesday (with Thursday second) to 3,818 on Saturday, Oct. 22, the coolest day of the fall. That's 39.6 percent of the 186,384 voters who were registered for the August election.
At first blush, since the official Election Day across the country is one day, Nov. 8 this year, and polls close when they close, we think perhaps early voting ought to be similarly uniform across the 50 states. In other words, everyone ought to have the same number of days to vote early, the same hours in which to vote and the commensurate number of places to vote early compared to a locale's population.
But currently only 37 states and Washington, D.C., allow some sort of early voting. Four states that border Tennessee - Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri - do not allow early voting. Absentee voting by mail without excuse is allowed, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in 27 states and Washington, D.C. All early voting is done by mail in Colorado, Oregon and Washington.
The time period for early voting varies from 45 days before the election to the Friday before the election. The average starting time is 22 days before the election.
Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., allow some weekend voting, including four states where it is permitted on Sunday (and five more where the Sunday decision is left in the hands of county clerks).
With that much of a variance, getting 50 states on the same page for early voting rules is about as likely to happen as 100 percent of the electorate agreeing on one candidate.
It's a good thing, then, Founding Father James Madison believed the powers not reserved for the federal government should be reserved for the states and helped write that into the Constitution.