Voter Registration Down Across The Volunteer State
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The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
Voter registration numbers in Tennessee show little increase at the midterm, leaving election administrators concerned that voter turnout may be low for the election.
There are currently just over 4.5 million people registered to vote in the state, an increase of 2.6%, or about 115,000 individuals, from last year’s total voter registration that ended on November 30, 2021.
Some had anticipated that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June would push more women in the state to register to vote, but that is not turning up in the numbers just yet.
According to Kent Syler, political science and public policy professor at Middle Tennessee State University, the lack of newly registered voters shows an overall lack of interest in voting.
Election administrators said that individuals now have a variety of ways they can register to vote, but even those options are not helping to increase the number.
Carroll County administrator Peg Hamlett says registrations have shown a slight increase, while Hamilton County voter registrations are down significantly from 4 years ago, decreasing around 20%.
Knox County administrator Chris Davis stated in an email that “voter registration has been steady throughout 2022. Seems about normal for a midterm year.”
In Shelby County, administrators saw a much slower rate for voter registration. While they registered 9,913 people online in 2020, this year’s number was only 2,187.
“Typically, on the last day of registration, we’ll have lines of people who want to register. We didn’t have that this year,” said Shelby County Administrator Linda Phillips.
Several administrators mentioned that there were no highly contested elections taking place in their counties this year, which could help to explain the lessened interest in registering. Syler also noted the fact that there were only a small number of competitive races this year.
9 of the 17 state Senate races feature members of one party running unopposed by anyone from the other major party. The same scenario is true of 64.6% of the state House elections.
Officials are now focusing on preparing for a smooth election day in November.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
I think historically more people turn out to vote in Presidential elections although this is quite an important mid-term election.
I wish people would realize that taking back the Senate and House are as important as a presidential election.
C’mon Conservatives register and vote!.
I agree with Tara one hundred and fifty percent. I have been guilty in the past of skipping midterm cycles, but no more. A GOP takeover of Congress, both houses would effectively end Bumbling Biden and the fanatics dreams of selling us to China or Russia. This is not a joke, people, vote. If you think what’s happening is good, vote for it, if not vote GOP but VOTE!!!!!
TENN. And America had better had better get their head out of u know where before if not already the Democrats and some Republican’s turn the U.S. into a third world hold!!!
And this is why Tennessee has Vanderbilt giving their kids sex changes without their consent. This is why the Tennessee code on cheating voting machines is known nationwide but ignorance is a bliss in this state if you think it happened only in one county. This is also why public schools are gonna inject their kids with mRNA or they can’t come to school so they can groom them to believe they’re the opposite sex. When you keep your residence’s uneducated you can actually do whatever you want to do and tell them lies because they’re too ignorant to do something about it. Just to be real honest
Complacency kills countries, and turns Red States to Blue ‘ holes. VOTE, in person ON ELECTION DAY!