Early vote tallies pass 2014 totals
CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Even though early voting slowed in its second week for Bradley County, ballot totals still blew past 2014 primary numbers.
By the time the 14-day early voting period ended Thursday, election officials had tallied 9,632 early and absentee ballots for the 2018 primary. That is a jump of 22 percent over the 7,892 early ballots logged four years ago over a 13-day period.
“The candidates and the issues are what bring out the voters,” Fran Green, administrator for the Bradley County Election Office, said Friday.
Based solely on data from the last three primary cycles, election day turnout could fall between 3,000 and 5,000 voters, she said. However, Green emphasized she is not a forecaster and that weather and voter enthusiasm — or fatigue — could make a difference.
The election office had counted 5,140 ballots midway through the early voting period, meaning a daily average of 734 people had cast ballots in the first half. The last seven days averaged 642 voters per day. The overall average comes out to 688 voters a day.
The 2018 early ballot figures also amount to a higher voter
turnout percentage than in 2014. Four years ago, early voters accounted for 11.89 percent of Bradley’s 66,375 registered voters; this time around, they make up 14.86 percent of the county’s 64,794 registered voters.
Early voters made up nearly 54 percent of the 13,134 people who voted in the 2010 Bradley County primary. In 2014, they pushed it to 60 percent of the 13,242 voters who turned out.
Except for one commission seat, Republican primary voters will decide all county offices on the ballot this election cycle. Only 101 people voted in the Democratic primary.
When the polls close May 1, the Republican primary results will decide who wins contested races for sheriff and circuit court clerk, plus five commission and three constable seats.
The struggle between Sheriff Eric Watson and challenger Steve Lawson has turned into quite a heated battle, with Lawson bringing in the endorsements of Cleveland police Chief Mark Gibson and several past sheriffs. Watson has claimed support from Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and county commissioners Mike Hughes — a Bradley County Sheriff’s Office detective — and Howard Thompson.
The 2018 primary has introduced voters to a new way of electing the two commissioners allotted to each of Bradley County’s seven districts, in accordance with a measure narrowly approved by the Bradley County Commission last summer.
For decades, the candidates who received the most and second-most votes in districtwide free-for-alls won the two commission seats in each district. Now, candidates make a pitch for one of two specific seats, labeled Seat A or Seat B on the ballot.
Bradley County Commission Vice Chairman Jeff Yarber, who has long championed the change, has called for “an open mind” on the matter. He recently said he believes the new method will encourage people to use both of their commission votes instead of “single-shotting” for one candidate.
“Politically, [seat elections] can hurt you,” Thompson has said, declaring he doesn’t understand the need to make a change after decades of districtwide commissioner elections.
Contact Paul Leach at paul. leach.press@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_3.