Eight new voting places for Tuesday’s primary
By Mike Steely
Senior Writer
steelym@knoxfocus.com
“Lines are going to be long,” warned Election Coordinator Chris Davis last week.
Davis noted that there are 10 contested races in Knox County and that all the voting precincts will be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. tomorrow. He also noted that the Republican primary ballot is lengthy and voters should take some time when completing the ballot.
Voters in eight precincts will have new Election Day polling locations.
Precinct 12 voters will vote at the YWCA at 124 Cruze Street instead of the Boys & Girls Club.
Precinct 63 and 63N voters will vote at Karns Elementary School, 8108 Beaver Ridge Road, instead of Karns Middle School.
Voters in Precinct 64 will now vote at Pellissippi State Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, instead of the Solway Church of God.
Precincts 65E and 65S will report to the Ebenezer United Methodist Church at 1001 Ebenezer Road instead of Shoreline Church.
Precinct 65W and 65SW voters will file ballots at Faith Lutheran Church, at 225 Jamestowne Boulevard, instead of the Farragut Town Hall.
For more information, visit www.knoxvotes.org.
Early voting down
“Early voting for this election was down 20% from 2020 and 25% from 2016,” said Davis.
“With the relatively good weather and an extra voting spot we established up in Corryton, the lower turnout numbers are a little disappointing. However, voters that want to cast a ballot that have not yet voted still have the opportunity on Tuesday, March 5!” he told The Knoxville Focus.
Turnout totals for early and absentee votes were 26,885 with most, 21,440, voting in the Republican primary. The largest turnout was on the last day of early voting, Tuesday, and the Downtown West Precinct had the largest number of voters, 5,497, with Farragut, New Harvest, Halls, Karns and the Expo Center locations seeing more than 2,000 voters.
Reminders from the election commission
In a release sent Friday, Davis issued the following helpful reminders to Knox County voters.
THE BALLOT
The Democratic ballot is one page. Approximately 20% of early and absentee ballots issued thus far have been Democratic ballots.
The Republican ballot is two pages. Approximately 80% of early and absentee ballots issued thus far have been Republican ballots.
The biggest challenge the Election Commission has experienced with Republican ballots during early voting is voters voting for more than the maximum allowed number of fourteen delegates in the Delegates at-Large contest and for more than the maximum allowed number of three delegates in the 2nd Congressional District Delegates contest.
All voters, particularly voters that vote a Republican ballot, are highly encouraged to review the ballot in advance and follow instructions as presented on the ballot. Both Republican and Democratic sample ballots can be found on the home page at www.knoxvotes.org.
PHOTO IDENTIFICATION
A photo ID issued by the State of Tennessee (such as a driver’s license) or the Federal Government (such as a passport) is required to vote, unless an exemption applies. Election workers are trained to ask for your photo identification prior to being issued a ballot. Driver licenses from other states are not acceptable forms of ID for voting in the state of Tennessee.
WHEN DO I VOTE?
Election Day is Tuesday, March 5th, and the polls in Knox County are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Any voter in line by 8:00 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
WHERE DO I VOTE?
On Election Day, voters must vote at their assigned precinct. For voters that are unsure where they vote, they can visit www.knoxvotes.org and click on the “Where Do I Vote?” box on the front page and enter their residential address. The website will match the voter’s address with the correct polling place.
