Early voting underway

The early voting period has started for the August state primary and Cocke County general election at Western Plaza in Newport. Early voting runs through July 27.

The turnout Friday was light but steady on the first morning of early voting but that is likely to pick up during the early voting period if the most recent early voting period is an indicator.

During the last round of early voting in July, Cocke County had the fourth-highest early voting turnout percentage among Tennessee’s 95 counties with 10.25% of the county’s registered voters casting early ballots according to the Tennessee Secretary of State.

However, the ballot for this round of early voting for the August 1 election is considerably lighter than the ballot for early voting in February.

Early voting hours are 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. from Monday, July 15, through Friday, July 19. Early voting will be open later during the last week, with weekday hours 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday, July 22, through Friday, July 26. Early voting will be available for three Saturdays, with hours on July 13 and July 20 of 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. and July 27, the last day, from 8:30 a.m. until noon.

For the August election, voters may choose one of the following three options when appearing to vote or when requesting an absentee ballot: State Republican Primary with general election; State Democratic Primary with general election or general election only.

Both the Republican and Democratic ballots feature a contested primary for United States Senate, and the Democratic ballot has a contested primary for United States House of Representatives.

Each office on the County general election ballot is unopposed, including Assessor of Property and three County School Board seats (Districts 3, 5, and 7).

Two state judicial retention questions conclude the ballot.

All voters receive the general election ballot specific to their county voting district, regardless of which state primary ballot they choose, if either.

The ballot is light, but the election commission office is encouraging Cocke County residents to keep a strong voter history by participating in the August state primary and county general election.

More information can be found online at CockeCountyElections.org or by calling (423) 623-2042.