by Jon Styf
While early voting is up nationally, it was down in Tennessee this midterm season compared to 2018.
After early voting, there were 882,310 votes cast in Tennessee. In 2018, that total was 1,378,840 while it was 629,485 in 2014.
A nationwide Gallup poll showed that four in 10 voters planned to vote before Election Day with 41% expected to vote early this year compared to 26% in 2010.
Media reports have shown that roughly 200 voters cast votes in the wrong races in Davidson County due to confusion related to new districts after Nashville was split into three U.S. House districts following the mandated redistricting process.
Those votes cannot be fixed but will count toward the district voting that was on the voters’ ballots.
A special meeting of Davidson County’s Rules, Confirmations, and Public Elections Committee is scheduled for Friday evening after the mishap.
One of the highest impact races of the new districts could be the 5th Congressional District, where Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles is favored to defeat Democratic state senator Heidi Campbell with Ogles holding a predicted 55.7% to 41.1% advantage, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Gov. Bill Lee holds an even larger predicted margin of victory to win his race against Democratic challenger Jason Martin, with FiveThirtyEight giving Lee a 56.7% to 30.6% advantage.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Styf is a reporter for The Center Square.
Photo “Election” by Edmond Dantès.
