NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee voters who have not cast a ballot yet get their last chance Tuesday, Nov. 3, after an early voting period that drew far more people than the last governor election but fewer than the one before it.
The state Division of Elections counted 1,280,642 ballots over the 14 days of early and absentee voting, a total that includes in-person early votes, mailed absentee ballots and ballots cast at nursing homes and other licensed facilities. That is 45.15 percent more than at the same point in 2022, when 882,310 ballots came in before Election Day.
It still trails 2018. Four years before that, 1,378,840 ballots were in before Election Day, leaving this year about 98,198 ballots, or 7.12 percent, behind.
The jump over 2022 showed up almost everywhere. Ninety-four of the 95 counties finished above their 2022 early totals, while 14 counties beat their 2018 numbers. Johnson County was the lone holdout against 2022, landing exactly on its earlier total of 2,608. The final day of in-person voting, Thursday, Oct. 29, brought out 150,355 people, up about 35 percent from the matching day four years ago.
Early turnout says how many people voted, not whom they picked, so it does not forecast the outcome.
Anyone voting Tuesday must go to the assigned Election Day polling place, since early voting sites are closed. Bring a photo ID: most people voting in person must show one from the State of Tennessee or the federal government, with a few exemptions in state law. The GoVoteTN lookup shows each voter’s polling place and sample ballot.
Along with the governor race, the ballot carries three proposed amendments to the state Constitution, covering bail, a state property tax ban and crime victims rights.
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