High turnout
Citizens flock to the polls on first day of early voting
With a key U.S. Senate seat and a governorship up for grabs in Tennessee, it was clear the 2018 midterm elections wouldn’t be the usual yawner.
Almost four times as many people registered to vote for the Nov. 6 election than in the 2014 midterms, Hamilton County Elections Administrator Kerry Steelman said.
And on the first day of early voting Wednesday, a lot of those voters headed for the polls.
A small city of candidates’ tents blossomed along the driveway leading to the Brainerd Recreation Center voting site. Forests of signs were planted on the approaches to voting sites and lines of waiting voters snaked out of the doors at sites in Collegedale and the Hamilton County Election Commission.
Nearly 5,700 people had cast ballots by the end of Wednesday, according to the election commission.
Steelman said the 9,318 new registrations between July 3 and Oct. 9 — deadlines for the Aug. 2 primary and Nov. 6 general elections — let him and his staff know turnout would be high. That number compares to 2,380 new registrations for the 2014 midterms and 9,418 for the 2016 election.
“We knew we were in for a ‘presidential-level’ election,” Steelman said. “We are well-prepared for this election, and it’s satisfying when we have this level of turnout.”
Some of those voters said they came out on the first day because they’d be out of town on Election Day, or they just wanted to get it out of the way.
“We knew we were in for a ‘presidentiallevel’ election.” – HAMILTON COUNTY ELECTIONS ADMINISTRATOR KERRY STEELMAN
Others said they feel this is an extraordinarily important election, a crucial referendum in a sharply divided state and nation.
“It’s important that we vote in every election, but this one is particularly important. There are so many issues we are facing right now as a country,” said John Talbird, 78, retired rector of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, who was voting at the election commission.
“I’m not happy with President Trump and the lack of response of the Republican Party to the kind of things the chief executive is doing. We’ve lost any sense of decency.”
Gary Cross, 48, was still wearing medical scrubs from his health care job when he came to vote at the election commission.
“What’s weighing on everybody’s mind is control of the House and Senate,” Cross said.
He said Republicans need to keep their majority in Washington because President Donald Trump’s economic policies have delivered good jobs and rising wages, while Democrats are “leaning toward socialism.”
And Democrats’ behavior over Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court set a bad precedent, Cross added.
“There was no evidence whatsoever, but you’re still guilty. That’s a very slippery slope.”
But Theresa Johnson Malone, who brought her mother and a friend to the Brainerd Rec Center, worries that the safety net for seniors is in danger if Republicans keep control.
“They’re talking about taking away our Social Security because the deficit has ballooned in the last year,” said the military retiree who went through ROTC at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga decades ago.
Malone said the GOP-controlled Congress passed huge tax cuts, “taking away from poor people to give to rich people and companies.”
“If they mess with those old people’s Social Security, they better get out of the country!” she said.
Melvin Lindsey, 70, brought his 23-year-old daughter April to vote at the Brainerd site.
April Lindsey owns a couple of houses in East Ridge and “basically wanted to get in as early as possible” to vote for people who will be most likely to keep property taxes down, she said.
Melvin Lindsey, who lives in Marion County, said he’ll cast a vote for Marsha Blackburn for Senate and won’t vote again “until Trump runs again in 2020.” He said Blackburn’s a fighter.
“When I seen the shootout with her and [Democratic nominee Phil] Bredesen on TV, she gave him two black eyes and he didn’t have a word to say. In my opinion she just out-talked him. That sold me on her, she must be pretty solid,” Melvin Lindsey said.
Joy Hudson, retired after 30 years as a school administrator, said she’s “just concerned about dignity and respect in Washington” for the rights of women, African-Americans and “anybody that’s different.”
“We all have rights and we should all be concerned,” Hudson said.
Charles Dodson, 50, a commercial illustrator, said he didn’t want to miss what he said is a “very important election.”
He said he voted “to turn the tide of things that I see happening and I don’t like, animosity, a rising tide of nationalism and bigotry.”
Mark and Gayla Dunfee said they vote straight Republican in state and national races because they oppose abortion, gay marriage and open borders, while Democrats “want more social control over the rest of us.”
Mark Dunfee, a retired boilermaker, added, “I appreciate Trump because, No. 1, he’s keeping his promises, and he’s flat-out telling [undocumented immigrants] that ‘if you come across illegally, we’re going to send you back.’”
Gayla Dunfee said the couple also were concerned with East Ridge municipal elections.
“It’s a very important election for East Ridge. We need a city council that is honest, transparent and willing to allow East Ridge to go forward and not let ourselves be stifled,” she said.
Galen Riley, 35, lives in District 28 and acknowledged his age cohort’s reputation for sitting out elections.
“I don’t know that any of the candidates are speaking to the issues my generation cares about,” such as climate change, criminal justice reform and action on health care, Riley said.
His District 28 neighbors, Carolyn and Jeffery Lindsey, are independents who said they vote in every election.
Jeffery Lindsey, 66, wants immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for undocumented people who have lived and worked here for decades, but also tighter borders. He supports stricter gun laws, including a ban on assault weapons, and wants to see more fresh faces in politics — it’s why they both voted for Republican candidate Lemon C. Williams Jr. in traditionally Democratic House District 28.
“They’ve been riding the clock on us all these years and haven’t done nothing. It’s time for us Americans to start using some of our voting rights” to bring about change, he said.
In Nashville-Davidson County, the election commission had received reports that people who registered close to the Oct. 9 deadline might not get their voter cards before Election Day.
In Chattanooga, Steelman said his staff put in extra hours last week to get all the registrations processed so he thinks everyone’s cards will get to them in time.
A voter’s state or national photo ID should be enough to get a registered voter a ballot, he said. Voters who don’t bring their ID can ask for a provisional ballot, which will be counted as long as they bring ID to the election commission office within two business days of Election Day.