Turnout was down — and down big — during Tennessee’s early voting period as 882,310 residents cast ballots.
Statewide figures show the early voting total declined more than one-third (36%) compared to the 2018 midterms. Nearly 500,000 fewer people voted.
Among all counties, Williamson ranked second for the highest percentage of registered voters who have come out thus far — at 26% — while Montgomery was among the lowest, at 14%.
The state also published comparisons between the midterm early voting turnout for 2022, 2018 and 2014.
The county with the largest drop in the past four years was Clay County, down 50%. Among the Metro areas, Davidson County was down the most, at 41%.
The 2018 ballot did feature two big-spending contests with Democrats hailing from Davidson County. Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean ran unsuccessfully against Gov. Bill Lee and former Gov. Phil Bredesen lost to Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
Some elections officials have said the 2022 ballot is more comparable to 2014, in terms of length and the number of competitive races. Compared to that year, 2022 early voting was up 40%.
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