Voter Turnout Good, Evening Surge Expected

Upper Cumberland voters continue to stream into local precincts as voting officials prepare for another rush when more voters come in after work.

Putnam Election Administrator Michele Honeycutt said they have had a great turnout with lots of lines across the county. Honeycutt said they have received a number of provisional votes that will have to be verified as well.

“I mean it’s kind of like 2020,” Honeycutt said. “We voted seventy percent. So I mean I figure a lot of people are going to vote today. We had a big rush this morning, it slacked off a little this afternoon but we think it’s going to pick up again near the end and when people get off work.”

DeKalb Election Administrator Dustin Estes said the county has seen a similar afternoon lull. Estes said he still expects to see an evening surge of their own. Estes said their record-high early voting numbers mean that election day should not be quite as hectic overall.

“I expected it to take a little bit of the edge off from today, which is a good thing,” Estes said. “That’s what we wanted. But turnout is still looking very good across all precincts.”

Jackson Election Administrator Drew McMillan said they had a few people expected to work at the polls who could not come in. McMillan said his team was able to find the replacements they needed and are now moving forward without issue.

“We’re seen a lot of people come out to the polls today,” McMillan said. “I’m not sure on the exact percentage, but I would say we will have around 5,500 to 6,000 that includes early and absentee by 7:00 today.”

Clay Election Administrator Monica Davis said they were very busy at the start of the day but the number of voters coming in has slowed down since then.

“From what I’ve heard from the precincts, it has sort of gotten steady now,” Davis said. “Just like a steady flow. We don’t have any lines or anything like that.”

Overton Election Administrator Craig Story said the county started strong this morning and various precincts have reported a consistent flow of voters as the day has gone on.

“We’re probably going to have one of our bigger days,” Story said. “Early voting we broke a record, so it’s one of those deals you expect to have a pretty good turnout on election day but a lot of those folks may have already voted.”

Many of the election administrators said the only real issues they have seen are people who mistakenly thought they were registered to vote or who went to the wrong precinct after moving to another district in their county.