KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tuesday was Election Day in Knoxville and Kentucky. In Knoxville, voters had the chance to decide on who they wanted to serve on the City Council, and who they wanted to wear the robes of city judge. In Kentucky, a nationally watched election also decided who would serve as the state's governor.
In Knoxville, candidates ran unopposed in two races, leaving voters to decide on candidates for three others. Polls closed at 8 p.m. in that election.
The unofficial results of the races are listed below.
Tyler Caviness won the municipal judge race against John Rosson Jr., while incumbent Amelia Parker kept her seat. Debbie Helsley won the At-Large Seat B City Council race, which was previously held by Janet Testerman.
Charles Thomas ran unopposed in the District 5 election, and Lynne Fugate ran unopposed for the City Council At-Large Seat A position. During the city primary election in August, 16,648 votes were cast. The primary included the mayor's race, which incumbent Mayor Indya Kincannon won outright.
Turnout has been low for eligible young voters in early voting. The Knox County Election Commission said only around 559 people between 18 years old and 34 years old cast a ballot during Knoxville's early voting period — around 1% of all eligible young voters in the city.
"You'll have a good idea of how those races are going after the early voting and absentee results are released," said Chris Davis, the Knox County Administrator of Elections. "And traditionally in a city election, that's about half of your votes that will be cast. It could be 40%. It could be 60%. But somewhere in that in that general middle range."
The commission said around 38,190 young people are eligible to vote. The low turnout was also seen in the city as a whole during early voting. There were 6,474 early votes cast with another 793 absentee votes as of Nov. 3, out of around 102,000 registered voters in Knoxville.
The age range with the most early voters was people older than 55 years old, with 5,355 early votes cast. People between 35 years old and 54 years old cast 1,353 early votes.
Davis says the polls did not have many visitors at around 3 p.m. on Nov. 7. He says the city election usually gets lower voter turnout compared to presidential elections, but they are still important.
"Every day, literally of the year, we get calls from voters," said Davis. "Voters are upset about something, whether it's something to do with a zoning issue or a pothole on my street, or they're going to build something next to my property or whatever it is. And people want to know, who is my county commissioner, who is my city council rep. You know, who's my state government representative, folks don't focus on these things until they need to. And this is an opportunity for individuals who live inside the city."
On the other side of the state line, Kentucky saw higher turnouts during the state's gubernatorial election. Polls closed at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in that election. The results of that election are listed below.
In Kentucky, voters headed to the polls to decide on whether to give Democratic Governor Andy Beshear a second term. He faced Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Beshear first won the governorship in 2019 by a narrow margin, turning a state that historically had conservative control.
He will serve a second term.