Taking advantage of early voting, thousands of Tennesseans turned out Wednesday to begin making their choices for state, local and national races.
By 10 a.m. Wednesday in Hawkins County, 130 people had made their political choices.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by interest in early voting,” Patricia Lumpkins, Hawkins County administrator of elections, told News Channel 11, the Herald Courier’s television partner.
Not surprisingly, some problems cropped up. In Washington County, Tenn., early voting computers weren’t working Wednesday morning in Johnson City. That could be foreshadowing for Nov. 4.
The Advancement Project, a voter protection organization, has warned that many states may not be prepared to meet unprecedented voter turnout. It specifically cites Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia as states likely to have problems. The report says the number of voting machines, privacy booths and poll workers might be insufficient for the number of voters; that machines, booths and workers might be misallocated in some precincts; and that the allocation of resources is more likely to affect minority precincts.
“People are excited about voting in this election; registration and turnout will be up, which is great for our democracy,” said Judith Browne-Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project. “However, many election officials are under-resourced or have misallocated resources. If they do not prepare adequately for the potential turnout, what could be the greatest collective exercise in democratic participation in our nation’s history could be sustained by government failure.”
Now is the time to address any possible election problems. Voter groups will be watching to see that the election is carried out fairly. Election officials must do everything possible to ensure the public that this is the case. Voters deserve to know that their choice was properly counted, whether they make their selection early, by absentee ballot or in-person on Nov. 4.
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