Well, Chattanooga, early voting is over.

Now if you want to vote for the presidential primary, you’ll need to do it on March 3, which is Super Tuesday — aka Election Day, when more than ⅓ of the U.S. population will vote.

It’s cliché, but there’s a reason for that. It’s true that there’s power in your vote. | Gif by Giphy

We heard anecdotally from people who went to the polls early that turnout seemed strong, but the election commission’s numbers tell a different story.

Fast facts

○ Early voting includes people who voted by mail.

○ There were 12 days of early voting in Tennessee.

○ Although some reports have suggested that early voting can increase overall turnout, other studies show it has the opposite effect, taking attention away from Election Day and leading to lower turnout.

○ Election commission official Nathan Foster agreed that it’s inconclusive whether early voting has a major effect on the number of overall ballots cast, but he said it’s certain that early voting “substantially reduces the length of the lines and the wait times that voters could experience on Election Day.”

Hamilton County early voting by the numbers

○ 18,209. Total turnout for 2016 presidential primaries

○ 17,903. Total turnout for 2020 presidential primaries

○ 1.7. Percent decrease from 2016 (or a difference of 306 votes)

These are early voting numbers from 2016. | Hamilton County Election Commission

These are early voting numbers from 2020. | Hamilton County Election Commission

How did the parties vote?

○ In 2016, a total of 6,785 Democrats voted early.

○ That year, 11,424 Republicans voted before Super Tuesday.

○ This year, 10,165 Democrats voted early.

○ And 7,738 Republicans voted early in Hamilton County this year.

Bonus: Because of the high number of Democratic voters so far, election commission officials are erring on the side of caution and have ordered more Democratic ballots for Tuesday.

Quoteworthy

“I think that voters like the choice of being able to vote over a longer period and at more locations, at their convenience vs some of the time and location limitations that election law places on Election Day voting.” – Nathan Foster, Hamilton County Election Commission

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