Turnout for Tennessee’s presidential primary Tuesday could reach a record. Locally, nearly 2,000 early votes were cast at the three early voting locations, with over half of those being cast in the last four days of the two week early voting period. The final day saw 389 early voters.
Statewide, final numbers of early voting showed more than 320,000 Tennesseans voted early, tripling early turnout in the last two presidential primaries held after Super Tuesday.
Hometown candidate Fred Thompson dropped out the race after the South Carolina primary and after the local early voting period was already underway, and he could still get a significant number of local votes.
Democrats who backed John Edwards have made hasty switches to Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton and a political analyst predicts those votes will split and not change the outcome of Tuesday’s primary.
For those who haven’t voted early, the polls open Tuesday at eight and will remain open until seven Tuesday night in the county’s many voting precincts.