KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Early voting in Knoxville and the rest of Knox County wrapped up Thursday evening with 102,196 ballots cast, a big jump from the last midterm, as voters get ready for Tuesday’s general election.
Chris Davis, the county’s administrator of elections, said the early voting window closed at 6 p.m. Thursday. Of the final total, 4,099 ballots were absentee or came from nursing homes. Davis said 4,279 of the early voters were casting a ballot for the first time, and the oldest in-person early voter was 104.
The turnout ran well past what the county saw four years ago, when 68,424 people voted early in the November 2022 midterm. It still fell below the 2018 midterm, when 113,731 people voted before Election Day.
It also beat what election officials had expected. Earlier in the week, with more than 65,000 ballots in, the Knox County Election Commission projected the early vote would land somewhere between 90,000 and 95,000 by the close.
About 180 election workers staffed the county’s 11 early voting sites during the 14-day period. Davis said the Downtown West site handled as many as 200 voters an hour at its busiest, and the commission had to scramble for replacements when four workers at one site called in sick. The commission is still recruiting poll workers, including teens as young as 16.
Voters will choose a governor, a U.S. senator, members of Congress and state legislators, and some towns also have local races. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, voting sites in Knoxville, Farragut and the rest of the county open at 8 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
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