KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Monday is one of the busiest days for Chris Davis, the Knox County administrator of elections, as he prepares several locations for voting on Super Tuesday. Voters can go online on Knox County's website to check where their designated precinct polling place is located.
Voters will head out to the polls in their party's presidential primary election as well as primary elections for a variety of local positions like school board seats, county commission seats and some other local offices.
Davis said while they saw fewer voters in the polling centers during this year's early voting period compared to previous ones, they still expect long lines on Election Day.
"We are handing out all of the necessary supplies necessary to conduct the election to all of our officials at our 78 polling locations throughout Knox County," Davis said. "You may want to go in those non-peak times like mid-morning, mid-afternoon, maybe before dinner."
Tennessee is one of 16 states across the nation holding a presidential primary election of some kind. A list of all the states participating in Super Tuesday is available below.
Early voting statewide fell more than 20% this year compared to 2020, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State's Office. Davis said that in Knox County, about 25,000 people voted early — a drop of around 8,000 voters compared to 2020.
Davis warns voters to not to make the same mistakes he saw during early voting.
"A lot of folks without a state driver's license are showing up," Davis said. "And a lot of people moved here in the last two or three years and haven't gotten the driver's license change, presumably. But that's not an acceptable ID for voting. It'd be a driver's license, a passport"
There aren’t many competitive Democratic races, which is one reason why turnout was lower this year. Another reason for lower turnout is a lack of suspense in the presidential primary elections. Donald Trump is expected to be the Republican nominee and Biden is the Democratic incumbent.
Anyone voting in the Democratic races will have a short ballot. But, anyone voting in the Republican races will have about three pages to get through. Davis said about 8% of Republican ballots cast early were "spoiled" because people voted for too many delegates.
"Another thing we've seen is that voters really need to pay attention to the ballot when they go in there because voters are very used to picking one thing or two to vote for and there's a couple of races on that Republican ballot where you're voting for delegates," Davis said. "You're voting for, in one race, up to 14, and in one race up to three, and if you vote for more than that, your ballot those races won't count."
As for getting to the polls, Knoxville Area Transit wants to make it easier. Belinda Woodiel-Brill, the Director of Planning and Public Information, said bus rides will be free to the polls.
This was an initiative that was started by Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon and the idea was that transportation should not be a barrier to voting, Woodiel-Brill said.
On Super Tuesday, KAT will offer fare-free rides for everyone from the first trip out in the morning, to the last trip at night.
"By offering fare-free rides on Election Day, we can help folks get to the polls as easily as possible," Woodiel-Brill said. "We encourage folks to check and see what the hours are of their polling location and make sure it coincides, some of our routes may end before the polling stations close, depending on which polling station they go to."
Races to watch in Knox County include the Republican primary for the 5th District County Commission seat in Southwest Knox and Farragut – there are five Republicans running in that race.
District 8 County Commission has three Republicans running in the primary election. The District 8 Knox County Board of Education has no Democrat running in that race.
There is only one local contested Democratic primary race — District 1 County Commission in the East Knoxville area. To fill a seat with a new commissioner, Evelyn Gill and Damon Rawls are running against each other. Whoever wins that race will advance to face the winner of the Republican primary in that district.
The Knox County general election is in August.
"I would encourage voters if they don't know where they vote, maybe they vote once every four years or eight years or 12 years, to visit our website," Davis said. "So, inside the poll, you cannot wear anything, whatever you support inside the polling place. We get that folks are very excited about who they want to vote for. But you know, this is a nonpartisan place where people are able to cast their ballot without fear of coercion or intimidation, just being able to cast it in peace."