Tuesday is Election Day in Tennessee, and voters using where can i vote near me are deciding the governor’s race after nearly 1.3 million people already cast early ballots. Marsha Blackburn, Jerri Green, Dave Hatley and Lauran Pinkston are on the ballot, with the early vote total already above 26% of registered voters.
That turnout gives a clear measure of how many Tennesseans had already chosen before Tuesday. Nearly 1.3 million early votes is more than were cast early in the 2022 midterm elections, and about 9% fewer than the 2018 governor’s race.
Nashville in Focus
On Sunday’s episode of Nashville in Focus on FOX 17, Luis Mata of the Tennessee Democratic Party put the final vote in sharper focus. He said, “The only poll that really matters is the one that's happening on Tuesday, on Election Day.”
Mata also said, “What this poll does tell us, what these numbers tell us being so neck and neck is that Tennesseans are fed up, right? They want something different than the nearly two decades of Republican control of our state for far too long,” as he described the race as close heading into Election Day.
Blackburn's narrow lead
Blackburn has been the favorite, but her lead has fallen over the past year. A poll conducted a week ago by the Hatley campaign showed her at 34.5%, Green at 30.1%, Hatley at 26.5% and Pinkston at 3%.
That same polling trend helps explain why the final hours matter. Megan Lee Podsiedlik said Blackburn is battling voter apathy, and she added, “She needs to ignite the base and and not showing up, maybe to this type of thing might not matter to the base, but she does have to show up for her base. And so that's really I think what's going to make this election,” in her comments about Blackburn.
Tennessee voters Tuesday
Blackburn did not attend the Tennessee Press Association forum at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro last week, one of the public settings where the candidates were expected to appear together. Voters now decide the race without another guaranteed face-to-face meeting on the calendar.
The practical step for Tennessee voters is simple: cast a ballot on Tuesday if they have not already done so. The result will show whether the early vote wave and the remaining Election Day turnout were enough to settle a race that had already tightened before polls opened.
