Knox County official urges August voter turnout as attention turns to November

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — As many voters are turning their focus to the upcoming presidential election in November, the Knox County Elections Commission is reminding people about the upcoming August elections.

Early voting for the Federal Primary and State and County General Elections began on Friday, July 12, and runs through Saturday, July 27. Election day is set for August 1. Chris Davis, the administrator of elections in Knox County, shared that so far early voting has been steady. However, he added that it’s been slightly lower than two years ago and significantly lower than four years ago when there were similar races on the ballot.

“We’re down about between 20 and 25% in early voting from where we were four years ago. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that back four years ago there was an open Senate seat and now while there’s a Senate race on the ballot [this year], there is an incumbent and so that may be leading to a little bit of a downturn,” said Davis.

Through the first seven days, a total of 12,444 early votes have been cast, with an additional 1,435 votes cast by absentee ballot and in nursing homes. At the same point in 2022, 12,438 votes had been cast and in 2020, 16,776 votes had been cast.

While Knox County is still focused on getting through the August elections, many people are asking questions about the next election in November.

“We’re focused obviously on the August election, but about one out of every two calls we get in the office is something about the November election. ‘When can I get my presidential ballot? When can I apply for an absentee ballot? When does early voting begin.’ And while that’s a great thing, we want everybody to vote. It’s a little bit disheartening because we have an election going on right now for a lot of very important races,” said Davis.

For the November election, the final day to register to vote is October 7. Early voting begins on October 16 and runs through October 31. Absentee ballots can be requested between August 7 and October 29. Election Day is set for November 5.

The November election has already made headlines following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race . However, Davis said while this year has been unique 2020 was pretty eventful.

“It’s certainly unique, but I will tell you 2020 was pretty darn eventful when you think about COVID. I still have nightmares thinking about everything we had to do to get ready for COVID. A lot of voters will remember, in 2020, we went from having the the old wheel where we vote on the machine to paper ballots. And so we had both of those big changes in 2020. So while certainly an assassination attempt and a presidential resignation from the race are certainly unique, you know, to my 12 years here they both bring their own challenges,” said Davis.

Davis closed by reminding people to vote and noted that the election is on a Thursday. To view sample ballots, click here . Polls will open at 8 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. on August 1.

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