NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Records are being smashed for the number of early and absentee votes in Tennessee during a presidential election year.
The two combined are up nearly 40% this year for the first 10 days of a presidential election compared to the same time period for the record-setting 2016 November vote.
The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office website shows a state total of 1,653,612 votes through Saturday, October 24 for the first 10 days of early voting.
By contrast, the site lists 1,182,515 early voters for the first 10 days of early voting for the 2016 presidential election.
That’s nearly a 39.84% increase in Tennessee for early votes from 2016 to 2020.
While the bulk of early votes are in person, more than 184,528 of them statewide are absentee ballots that have made it back to local election commissions for counting that begins on election day when the polls open.
By comparison, just over 64,000 total absentee ballots were cast for the entire 2016 presidential election in Tennessee.
All this comes as the last day to request an absentee ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 27. In-person early voting ends Thursday.
For more questions on voter information, you can go to the link for the secretary of state’s office by clicking here.
