After redistricting, some voters surprised to find polling place has changed

For some, the biggest Election Day revelation thus far has been that they’d arrived to the wrong polling place.

Many people in Nashville had their precinct change because of redistricting. Pollworkers have been advising voters to double-check that they’re in the right place before waiting in line, and they’ve been pointing people to a QR code that takes them to the polling place locator website.

Nina Cardona WPLN News

A sign at a West Nashville polling location asks the viewer if they’re at the correct place to cast their ballot. Pollworkers have been pointing people to the QR code that takes them to the polling place locator website.

That was the case for L.A., an electrical contractor in Donelson.

“I have voted here in the 2020 election, and so I don’t know why I can’t vote here today — but anyway, it’s not a big deal,” he said.

Elections Administrator Jeff Roberts said it’s also possible that some voters are arriving to sites that are used for early voting but where they are not assigned for Election Day.

“They’re confused between early voting, when you can vote anywhere, and Election Day when you have to vote at your assigned precinct,” he said, noting that places like the Bellevue, Bordeaux, Hermitage, Madison and Southeast branch libraries were having to redirect many voters.

Once voters arrive, cellphones can be used while filling out the ballot — just not for taking pictures, talking on the phone or recording others.

Roberts noted few equipment issues across Nashville.

“We’ve been dispatching additional machines to places that seem to be having a higher traffic volume, just to make it easier on the voters,” he said at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Turnout — which won’t be fully known until late Tuesday — has varied widely across precincts. There have been lines of a half hour or longer at some places, but no wait at others.

At Lakeview Elementary School in Southeast Nashville, longtime voter Dot said she was glad to have avoided the confusion from early voting, when hundreds of Nashvillians were mistakenly assigned to the wrong district.

“I’m glad I waited today to do it because usually I do early voting,” she said, “but after what happened with the voting thing, I’m glad I voted today.”

WPLN’s Tony Gonzalez, Paige Pfleger, Alexis Marshall, Ambriehl Crutchfield, and Blaise Gainey contributed to this report.