Nashville transportation plan will fight ballot fatigue

No matter which candidate headlines the top of the ticket, Democrats are fighting against ballot fatigue among presidential-year voters.

Between the lines: National data shows that presidential year voters frequently don't scroll down to vote on down-ballot races.

What she's saying: "The sporadic presidential voter, which will be high this year, isn't a voter that follows local politics nor may stick around in the voting booth long enough to take a chance on transit," state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat, tells Axios.

• She says the discrepancy could decrease if Davidson County-elected officials campaign and include information about the transportation referendum in their communications.
• "But that is a big 'if,' considering most of us don't have competitive general elections," she says.
• She complimented the transportation campaign for reaching out to elected officials to provide information necessary to "generate buy-in from our districts."

Reality check: Nashville elections may skew liberal, but when voters pondered a ballot measure for transit funding in 2018, they rejected the plan by a wide margin.

The bottom line: Harris' impact may be modest in a high-turnout election, but transportation backers will welcome the boost.

What's next: The Davidson County Election Commission will vote to finalize the ballot wording at its meeting on Sept. 3.