As Early Voting Starts, Some Tennesseans Just Want To Put The Election Behind Them

Marlena Wing wasted no time Wednesday.

She and her husband, Kevin, were at Smyrna Town Hall just 90 minutes after the start of early voting. They’ve known for months who they planned to vote for — Hillary Clinton — and saw no need to wait a day longer.

“I think she’s very knowledgeable. I think she has a good handle on foreign policy. I could just go on and on and on,” Wing said. “I think she’s fantastic.”

After nearly two years of campaigning, there wasn’t anything that was going to change the Wings’ minds. Certainly not Donald Trump.

“It would take, literally, him turning water into wine for me to even think about voting for him,” Kevin Wing chimed in. “And I probably still wouldn’t do it.”

Tens of thousands of Tennesseans cast ballots on the first day of early voting, surpassing records in some counties.

They came for myriad reasons. Some have had their minds made up for a while. Some wanted to beat the rush. And some were just hoping to put the election behind them.

“I’ll be glad when it’s all said and done,” Kenny Wallace said shortly after casting his ballot at the Ag Expo Center in Franklin. “I don’t like the mudslinging. I want to hear what people have to say. How they’re going to help this country. And I’m not hearing that very much from either candidate.”

Polls have shown Trump with a substantial lead. Most observers expect him to win Tennessee.

His unusual campaign has angered some while energizing others. Debby Beaty, a 55-year-old clerk from Smyrna, says she hadn’t voted in nearly four decades.

“We need a change, badly. This country is in turmoil,” she said. “I’m just banking on him.”

Other voters took longer to convince. Austin Phelps, a 19-year-old mechanical engineering student, says he was trying to decide between Trump and Evan McMullin, an independent candidate running primarily in Utah. Then Trump got the endorsement of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

“I voted for Ted Cruz in the primary, and him endorsing him helped me,” Phelps said. “I feel if Cruz can trust him then I can trust him.”

Early voting runs through November 3. You can find sites in your county on the
GoVoteTN website or by downloading the app.

Meribah Knight contributed to this report.