Early Voting: One Week Down, One More To Go

Upper Cumberland voters have one more week to get to the poles for early voting.

So far, election offices have seen a mixed bag of turnout since early voting began last week. Overton County Election Administrator Craig Story said over 700 people have participated in his county.

“Mid-terms are usually a little less on turnout than some of our other elections,” Story said. “Four years ago I think we ran around 2,300 people total. About half of those are early voters, and we’re probably on a similar track right now.”

This voting period is the primary for many county offices. White County Election Administrator Darcus Marcum said turnout has been above average with about 1,200 voters participating.

“It’s good I think for a local county primary,” Marcum said. “It compares pretty good. It’s a good turnout. Of course, we’re having Republican/Democratic Primary both, so we’re having a lot of people coming out.”

Story said early voting has gone smoothly, but he has not seen as many people at the poles as he would like. Story said some of the Overton races are not contested, which leads to less people coming to the poles. But, the races that are contested are still important to participate in, Story said.

“Those people govern, and everybody needs to have a voice to who governs,” Story said.

Early voting ends on April 28th. Election Day is on May 3rd. Marcum said you never know what will happen on election day, so voters should take advantage of the opportunity to vote early.

“This is their county officials,” Marcum said. “This is the way that get to have a say for their local officials.”

Story said lines have been short at the Overton office. It only takes about 10 minutes to vote.

“We always like seeing people take advantage of early voting,” Story said. “It’s a good easy way of doing things. You just never know what’s going to come up on election.”