President Donald Trump announced his intentions to visit Virginia after denouncing Governor Ralph Northam and endorsing congressional candidate Bob Good.
Trump tweeted his remarks on the first day of Virginia’s early voting and submission of absentee ballots, September 18.
Read the full story
It looked like the release of a new iPhone. Across Virginia, hundreds of people lined up outside polling places on the first day of early voting on Friday. The Virginia Public Access Project is reporting that already, over 600,000 more Virginians have requested mail-in ballots than in 2016. However, political pundits warn that large increases in early voting might not affect final results that much.
Read the full story
State Rep. Robin Smith’s name was left off ballots in the first hour on the first day of early voting in one Chattanooga precinct.
On Friday, a voter called Smith to tell the Republican that her name was missing from the ballot for the 26th District, WRCB reported. This happened in Chattanooga’s Northgate 2 precinct. This impacted 10 early voters and 18 absentee ballots.
Read the full story
As part of “Super Tuesday,” Tennessee will begin early voting Wednesday, February 12 in the 2020 presidential preference primary. Super Tuesday refers to the single day that the highest number of U.S. states and territories hold a presidential primary or caucus during a presidential election year. In the 2020 presidential election year, Super Tuesday will be held on March 3. In Tennessee, early voting starts this Wednesday and runs through Tuesday, February 25. Tennessee joins 14 other jurisdictions holding a primary event on Super Tuesday, according to Ballotpedia, including Alabama, America Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. With California and Texas – the two most populous states – holding their primaries on Super Tuesday, more than one third of the U.S. population is expected to vote on March 3, Ballotpedia predicts. In a December 19, 2019, letter to county election commission offices, Secretary of State Tre Hargett certified the presidential candidates on the presidential preference primary ballot. The Republican primary ballot will include presidential candidates: Donald J. Trump Joe Walsh Bill Weld The Democratic primary ballot includes 15 presidential candidates: Michael Bennet Joseph R. Biden Michael R. Bloomberg Cory Booker…
Read the full story
Minnesota voters began casting their votes early Friday in the state’s first presidential primary since 1992.
Read the full story
During a discussion Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy spoke to Metro Council at large candidate, Adam Dread about low early voter turnout and scooter safety and how it ties into the public’s concerns.
Read the full story
On the first day of early voting Wednesday, Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackburn rallied voters in Middle Tennessee. U.S. Representative Blackburn (R-TN-07) met with about 150 supporters inside a community center in Franklin, The Tennessean said. Democratic former Governor Phil Bredesen held a lunch rally before a similarly sized crowd at the music venue 3rd and Lindsley near downtown Nashville. Blackburn and Bredesen are running for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). Early voting will be open until Nov. 1. The general election is Nov. 6. Republicans are urging voters to consider the candidates’ stances when heading to polling locations. Garren Shipley, communications director for the Republican National Committee, said, “If you think Tennesseans shouldn’t have Second Amendment rights, if you want to give back your tax cuts, or if you think there’s not enough resistance to President Trump in Washington, then be sure to get out there and vote early for Phil Bredesen. Otherwise, we’d suggest you go vote as soon as possible for Marsha Blackburn.” Last week Bredesen attended a fundraiser in New York City at the home of former New York City Mayor and potential 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, The Tennessee Star…
Read the full story
The early voting period for the August 2 Primary and Local General Elections ended Saturday with voter turnout continuing on a record pace across the state. The Tennessee Star will have more detailed analysis of the statewide and key county turnout figures next week once the Secretary of State posts the complete totals. However, a review of the final totals from the Williamson County Elections Administrator shows dramatic increases in voter participation from 2014 in both the Republican and Democratic Party primaries. In Williamson County, 20,884 total votes were cast during Early Voting, representing turnout of approximately 13.9% of total registered voters. In 2014, there were 11,757 total primary votes, a turnout of 8.6%. Of those votes, 14,861 were in the Republican primary. 5,953 were cast in the Democratic Primary. The Democratic primary total is a 400% increase over the primary votes cast in 2014. Nevertheless, GOP votes still exceeded Democrat votes by over a 2 to 1 margin. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill says the significant increase in early votes among both Democrats and Republicans indicates that the Fall election will be more hotly contested than races in recent years. “Assuming we see the early voting numbers double…
Read the full story
On Wednesday’s Gill Report – broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville – Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill discussed the early voting trends and the possibility of a new early voting record that could be set across the state of Tennessee. Gill said, “As voters have headed to the poll over the last about a half week, early voting started on Friday across the state. It continued for a half-day on Saturday in most locations, a lot of counties across the state are still limiting the early voting to having to go to one location in the county – and it’s not really that convenient in a lot of counties.” He continued: And yet we’re seeing very heavy turnout with early voting already to date. As we look again with the numbers through the 17th which would be yesterday. Basically, the secretary of state’s office puts the numbers out each date to kind of give us guidance into what the numbers are and where they are headed. Well as of through yesterday, there were 93,961 republicans who had voted early. 41,182 Democrats across the state. So, you are still seeing about a 35% Democrat, 60%-65% Republican vote across the…
Read the full story
FRANKLIN, Tennessee–A total of 911 ballots were cast on the first day of primary early voting in Williamson County on Friday, a 73 percent increase from the 526 ballots that were cast in the county on the first day of early voting in the August 2014 primary. The Brentwood HomePage provided these details: There are only two locations open for early voting in the county—the Election Commission’s office in Franklin and the Brentwood Library. At the library 340 people voted, while 505 people voted at the office in Franklin. After adding in votes from absentee ballots and nursing homes, there were 911 people voted Friday. . . Republicans made up the vast majority of voters. The Williamson County Commission reports that 606 people voted in the Republican primary while 297 voted in the Democratic primary. Eight people voted only in the general election. Supporters of several candidates, including State Senator Dr. Mark Green (R-Clarksville) , Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) , and Jeff Ford, stood under a tent just beyond the 100 foot boundary with signs for their candidate of choice at the Williamson County Administrative Building in Franklin. Green is running unchallenged in the Republican primary to replace Blackburn as…
Read the full story
Voters hit the polls heavily in the first two days of early voting in Maury County. The polls opened Friday at the Maury County Election Commission for early voting in the 2018 Tennessee general and primary election, The Daily Herald reported. On Friday and Saturday, at least 1,100 votes were cast even as Maury County candidates lined both shoulders of the road leading to the polling location. Maury County has 43,000 registered voters. Normally, about 30 percent of voters cast ballots early. During early voting in the 2016 presidential election, which included local races, more than 3,200 residents participated in early voting. The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office, which oversees elections, lists the advantages of early voting on its website: “being able to choose a day during the early voting period that best fits the voter’s schedule and the voter being able to change his or her address of registration and vote in the same voting location.” Each county’s election commission office may be found online here. Early voting will be from July 13-28. In Maury County, early voting will be held at the county’s election commission office at 1207A Tradewinds Drive in Columbia. The Secretary of State’s office also…
Read the full story
In the first two days of early voting there are signs that turnout may be higher than normal in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Early voting started on Friday and continued on Saturday, though the locations and schedule for the Saturday voting was limited in several counties. Additionally, some counties have only reported their Friday totals at this point. Nevertheless, 30,262 votes have already been cast in the Republican Primary and 12,205 in the Democratic Primary. Early voting continues until July 28 with Election Day on August 2. There were 668,039 total GOP Senate Primary votes cast in August 2014. That election featured a contested primary between Senator Lamar Alexander (331,705 votes) and Joe Carr (271,324). Alexander prevailed by a closer than expected 49-40% margin. A third Republican, Dr. George Flinn received a little over 34,000 total votes. That race may give guidance in predicting final turnout as we move through the early voting period. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill expects the turnout to increase dramatically over the next few weeks. “Not only do we have a hotly contested Republican Primary for Governor, in which we will see perhaps $10 million in spending in the next few weeks…
Read the full story
State Representative Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) earned another top-tier endorsement, this time from the National Rifle Association, in his campaign to win the Republican nomination in the Sixth Congressional District. Matheny faces former Judge Robert Corlew and businessman John Rose in the August 2 primary for the GOP nomination. The winner of that primary will be the favorite to win the general election contest to replace Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06), who is running for governor. “Thank you to the NRA for all they do to preserve our Second Amendment and for recognizing my unwavering support for the same. I have never and will never compromise on our Constitutional rights. I am a known and proven quantity – by far the best man for the job!” Matheny said in a statement released by his campaign on Friday. The campaign notes the welcome endorsement comes “in the wake of his educational 10th Annual Machine Gun Shoot held for the public, law enforcement, military, and the General Assembly.” Matheny, the statement added, “is known for his steadfast conservative voting record in the state house, and says that every decision he makes is viewed through the lens of his core principles of protecting life, the…
Read the full story
Voting in the 2018 Republican and Democrat primary elections begins today after candidates for statewide and local office have spent record amounts. So far, the four major candidates for the Republican gubernatorial nomination–Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06), Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd, Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell, and Williamson County businessman Bill Lee–have spent more than $37 million in a campaign that began one year and four months ago when Boyd became the first to announce his candidacy. In the two weeks and six days between now and election day on August 2, the four Republican gubernatorial candidates are expected to spend another $10 to $15 million. The early voting period begins today, July 13, and continues for 15 days until Saturday, July 28. “Before a single ballot is cast in early voting, which begins Friday, the contest to succeed a term-limited Gov. Bill Haslam is already the most expensive gubernatorial contest in state history,” as the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported: Contributions received in the gubernatorial by the four major Republican and two Democratic candidates is a shade over $51 million, according to second quarter campaign disclosures filed Tuesday with the state’s Registry of Election Finance.Of that amount, some $35 million comes…
Read the full story
Residents of Nashville/Davidson County surprised the local punditry on Saturday when 7,818 voters cast their ballots Saturday on the last day of early voting in the May 24 special mayoral election. The new single day record for the 14 day early voting period brought the total early voting turnout to 34,576, more than half the 59,000 who early voted in the May 1 transit plan referendum election. There may be more surprises in store on election day this Thursday in this unusual race. Here’s why: 57 percent of all the early votes cast–or 19,666 out of 34,576–were cast over the last three days. This is a dramatic change in voting behavior compared to early voting for the May 1 transit plan referendum, when 37 percent of the 59,000 early votes were cast. You can see the break down by day and voting location below in data provided to The Tennessee Star by the Davidson County Election Commission: [pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/519-EV-Daily-Report-May-24-2018-Mayor-Dist-1-3.pdf” title=”519 EV Daily Report-May 24, 2018 Mayor & Dist 1 (3)”] What this huge surge in turnout over the last three days, after an anemic first eleven days, means for the outcome of the May 24 election is anyone’s guess.…
Read the full story
A total of 6,654 residents of Nashville/Davidson County turned out to early vote on Friday, eclipsing Thursday’s single day record of 5,194 during the 14 day early voting period that began May 4 and ends at 4:30 pm today for the May 24 special mayoral election, bringing the total number of early votes cast to 26,758, with one final day of early voting remaining today. The heavy turnout on Friday was remarkable, given the anemic pace of early voting for the first 11 days of early voting before Thursday’s strong turnout, and the fact that the 11 early voting locations on Friday closed at 5:30 pm instead of 7:00 pm, as was the case on Thursday, You can see the early voting totals, by day and early voting location, as provided to The Tennessee Star by the Davidson County Election Commission, here: [pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/518EV-Daily-Report-May-24-2018-Mayor-Dist-1-2.pdf” title=”518EV Daily Report-May 24, 2018 Mayor & Dist 1 (2)”] Today is the last day of early voting. If more than 3,000 votes are cast before the 11 voting locations close at 4:30 pm, the early voting totals for the May 24 special mayoral election will be at least 29,600–slightly more than half of the…
Read the full story
Early voting turnout in the May 24 Nashville special mayoral election jumped to 5,194 on Thursday, the largest single day early voting turnout so far. As was the case on Tuesday, when the previous one day high of 3,537 was set, all 11 early voting locations were open until 7 pm. But with just two more days of early voting left, total turnout is still on track to come in at less than half of the early voting turnout for the May 1 transit plan referendum election, where voters overwhelmingly rejected the $9 billion plan by a 64 percent to 36 percent margin. In 12 days of early voting so far, just more than 20,000 residents of Nashville/Davidson County have cast their ballots. But on the last two days of early voting all 11 early voting poll locations will close at 5:30 pm today and 4:30 pm on Saturday. The loss of those extra hours means it is unlikely that turnout on either day will exceed Thursday’s one day high of 5,194. The last three days of early voting in the 14 day early voting period of the May 1 transit plan referendum election saw the heaviest turnout–37 percent of…
Read the full story
Early voting turnout in the May 24 Nashville special mayoral election hit a one day high on Tuesday of 3,533, bringing the total early vote to just shy of 12,000. With only four more days left, however, total early voting turnout is still expected to be in the range of 23,000 to 25,000, less than half the 59,000 in the recently completed May 1 transit plan referendum election. The higher early vote total on Tuesday was, in part, attributable to the fact that eleven early voting locations throughout Nashville were open from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm–two and a half hours longer than the 4:30 pm closing time on most of the ten other early voting days that have been completed so far. Early voting polls will close again at 4:30 pm on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday is the only remaining early voting day when all eleven polling locations will be open until 7 pm. The extra two and a half hours the early voting locations were open on Tuesday resulted in 900 more votes cast than on Monday, when polls closed at 4:30 pm and slightly more than 2,600 votes were cast. Turnout is likely to be somewhat…
Read the full story
Early voting continues to lag in the May 24 Nashville special mayoral election, as only 2,605 votes were cast in Nashville/Davidson County on Monday. Over nine days of early voting, only 8,419 votes have been cast. With just five days of early voting left between now and Saturday, the total number of early votes cast will be about 22,000 if the remaining days average 2,600 votes a day. Typically, however, the last three days of early voting see an uptick in activity. If that happens, early voting totals could reach about 25,000. You can see the daily breakdown by polling location, as provided by the Davidson County Election Commission to The Tennessee Star here: [pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EV-Daily-Report-May-24-2018-Mayor-Dist-1.pdf” title=”EV Daily Report-May 24, 2018 Mayor & Dist 1″] Those numbers, however, pale in comparison to the 59,000 early votes cast in the May 1 transit plan referendum, which Nashville/Davidson County voters rejected overwhelmingly by a 64 percent to 36 percent margin. That election saw about 123,000 total votes cast. If current voting trends continue, the total number of votes cast are likely to come in at a range between a low of 46,000 and a high of 53,000. All estimates within that range…
Read the full story
NASHVILLE, Tennessee–Only 5,810 votes have been cast after eight days of early voting in the May 24 Nashville special mayoral election. With just six more days of early voting, the total early vote count is on a trajectory to come in at less than 25,000. If early voting for the final six days of the early voting period, which ends May 19, averages 3,000 per day–a single day total that has yet to be reached in this election– the number of ballots cast in Nashville/Davidson County during the early voting period will be about 23,800. If that daily average is 2,300–the average for the most recent two days–the number of total ballots cast during the early voting period will be about 19,600. In most recent Nashville/Davidson County elections, voting on election day has been just slightly higher than during the early voting period. This suggests that total votes cast in the May 24 Nashville special mayoral election will be about 55,000, which is less than half of the 123,000 cast in the May 1 transit plan referendum in which Nashvillians rejected the $9 billion plan introduced by disgraced former Mayor Megan Barry and supported by Acting Mayor David Briley by…
Read the full story
Early voting turnout increased dramatically on Friday to 2,810, more than double the 1,205 that turned out for the first five days in the Nashville special mayoral election as the number of polling sites increased from one to eleven, to bring the total votes cast to 4,215 in six days. With eight more days early voting left, turnout projections remain will behind the 123,000 who turned out for the May 1 transit referendum. Extrapolating at a rate of 3,000 per day for the next 8 days, total early voting would be about 28,000. Assuming double that on election day May 24, total turnout would be in the range of 55,000 to 60,000, about half of the May 1 transit plan referendum. “As more satellite voting locations make casting a ballot in the Special Election easier we should expect the numbers of votes to increase dramatically,” Tennessee Star political editor Steve Gill pointed out. “But without the presence of other candidates on the ballot, the participation level in this race will likely be a record low. That will make polling difficult and predictions of which two candidates are most likely to emerge in a runoff even harder.” “A quick sprint election…
Read the full story
The exterior of Metro Nashville/Davidson County’s Howard Avenue Office Building looked more like a ghost town on Thursday than the city’s only open early voting location. Turnout on the fifth day of early voting in the May 24 special mayoral election tumbled to anemic levels, as only 166 residents of Nashville/Davidson County cast their votes. The grand total for five full days of early voting–all conducted at only one polling location, the Howard Avenue Office Building–is just 1,205, or barely 240 early votes cast per day. That early voting turnout is in stark contrast to the more than 3,000 early votes per day that were cast during the early voting period of the May 1 transit plan referendum in which more than 59,000 residents of Nashville/Davidson County early voted, about 64,000 voted on election day, giving a total turnout of a little more than 123,000 voters. Early voting results are expected to take a significant uptick today, when the number of early voting locations increases from one to eleven. Early voting begins today at 7:00 am and ends at 7:00 pm at these ten additional locations: Belle Meade City Hall Bellevue Library Bordeaux Library Casa Azafran Community Center Edmonson Pike…
Read the full story
The fifth day of early voting in Nashville’s special mayoral election on Wednesday saw another stunningly low turnout–only 194 residents of Nashville/Davidson County cast their ballots, bringing the five day early voting total to an anemic 1,039. After five full days of early voting, less than one-third of one percent of the active registered voters in Nashville/Davidson County (which is slightly more than 360,000) have cast their ballots in the May 24 special mayoral election to select a mayor who will serve out the remaining one year and three months of disgraced former Mayor Megan Barry’s term. Barry resigned on March 6, the same day she pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge related to her two year long affair with her bodyguard, former Metro Nashville Police Department Sgt. Rob Forrest. The anemic turnout levels spells big trouble for the campaign of Acting Mayor David Briley. First, it confirms that voters find him an uninspiring candidate. Second, it indicates that voters are likely burned out on politics, after they turned out in droves–about 123,000 total voters went to the polls–to decisively reject the $9 billion transit plan Briley endorsed, 64 percent to 36 percent. Finally, and perhaps more importantly, it…
Read the full story
Turnout for the first four days of early voting in the Nashville special mayoral election is abysmally low, with a total of only 845 ballots cast so far. Only 277 votes were cast on Friday, 89 on Saturday, 220 on Monday, and 259 on Tuesday, according to a report sent to The Tennessee Star and other local media outlets by the Davidson County Election Commission late Tuesday. Only ten more days of early voting remain between Wednesday and Saturday, May 19, the last day of early voting (early voting is not open on Sundays). The election date is Thursday, May 24. The Howard Office Building downtown is the only early voting location open between now and Thursday. On Friday, another ten early voting locations will be open until May 19: Belle Meade City Hall Bellevue Library Bordeaux Library Casa Azafran Community Center Edmonson Pike Library Goodlettsville Community Center Green Hills Library Hermitage Library Madison Library Southeast The low early voting total so far for the May 24 special mayoral election contrasts dramatically with the early voting for the recently completed May 1 transit referendum, when just a little more than 59,000 residents of Nashville/Davidson County early voted, an average of…
Read the full story
Turnout on the first day of early voting for Nashville’s special mayoral election on Friday was low, a stark contrast to the heavy early voting seen in the just completed May 1 transit plan referendum and the August 2015 mayoral election. Only 277 residents of Nashville/Davidson County early voted on Friday, less than one-third of the 900 who early voted during the first day of the early voting period leading up to the August 2015 mayoral election, which saw the top two vote getters, Megan Barry and David Fox, qualify for the runoff election the following month that Barry won. Metro Council member Dave Rosenberg, who also runs Harpeth Strategies, the polling and political communications firm, tweeted the details of the low first day turnout: 277 people voted today. On one hand, it’s a Howard School-only day that doesn’t draw like countywide early voting. On the other hand, about 900 people voted on the first Howard-only day in the August 2015 race. — Dave Rosenberg (@DaveRosenbergTN) May 4, 2018 Early voting in advance of the May 1 transit plan referendum, which extended over a 16 day period beginning April 11 and ending April 26, was far more robust. A total of…
Read the full story
Early voting in Nashville’s special mayoral election began today, just three days after residents of Nashville/Davidson County went to the polls and defeated the $9 billion Nashville transit plan, 64 percent to 36 percent. Taxpayers will spend an extra $2 million on the May 24 special mayoral election, thanks to the ill advised and legally unsound decision made by the Davidson County Election Commission to schedule the election for a later date, rather than follow the law, as The Tennessee Supreme Court later told them to do in a landmark legal decision last month. The legal and common sense decision that the Davidson County Election Commission rejected would have scheduled both the transit plan referendum and the special mayoral election for the same day, May 1. Residents of Nashville/Davidson County can early vote beginning today, and continuing until Saturday, May 19, as News Channel 5 reported: Right now, you can only vote at the Howard Office Building in downtown Nashville. Hours vary but it opens at 8 a.m. every weekday. All early polling locations will open next Friday, May 11. WSMV offered this guide to early voting: The following locations will be open for voting starting Friday, May 11: Belle…
Read the full story
Early voting has begun in Nashville-Davidson County, and groups seeking an alternative to the $9 billion light rail transit plan are urging voters to head to the polls early. Election Day — and the transit referendum —are May 1, but early voting began April 10 and will run through April 26. Poll locations for early voting are posted on the NoTax4Tracks website. “We need as many people as possible to vote against this costly and fiscally irresponsible transit plan,” the group says in a newsletter. “Otherwise, Davidson County will have the highest sales tax of any major city and households will pay an extra $43,000 for a transit plan that does NOT solve the traffic congestion problem and does NOT serve the whole county. “The other side is making false claims so it is essential we fight back to provide residents with all the facts. Reaching out and communicating with potential voters is the most important thing we can do during this critical time.” NoTax4Tracks also reports that the neighborhoods with the worst traffic will see little relief from light rail. Better Transit For Nashville posted what it calls the Top 100 reasons to vote against the light rail plan.…
Read the full story