CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Voters in Chattanooga and the rest of Hamilton County turned out early in big numbers this fall. When early voting closed Thursday, Oct. 29, the county had logged 69,587 early and absentee ballots for the Nov. 3 general election, the Hamilton County Election Commission reported, or about 30 percent of its registered voters.
That edges past the 67,403 ballots cast before Election Day in the 2018 midterm, a gain of about 3.2 percent, and it is close to 65 percent above the 42,224 early and absentee votes counted in 2022.
Hamilton County was part of a statewide surge. Across Tennessee, 1,280,642 people voted early or absentee, based on the final day 14 report built on Tennessee Secretary of State data. That is 45 percent more than the 882,310 early ballots in the 2022 governor’s race, though still 7 percent under the 1,378,840 recorded in 2018. Every county in the state but one finished ahead of its 2022 early total; Johnson County matched its 2022 number exactly at 2,608.
Early turnout tells how many people chose to vote ahead of time, not who they chose, and it does not predict the outcome. Results will start coming in after polls close Tuesday night.
Those who skipped early voting still have Tuesday, Nov. 3. The early sites are shut, so each voter has to use the precinct polling place assigned to them. In-person voters generally must bring a government photo ID from Tennessee or the federal government, and state law carves out a few exceptions. The state GoVoteTN lookup lists each voter’s precinct and sample ballot.
Section: More Chattanooga TN politics news
Filed under: Chattanooga TN Politics News
