Droves of voters have taken the opportunity to cast ballots early, according to the latest numbers from Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett.
In a brief news release, Hargett confirmed nearly 388,000 voters having taken to the polls leading into the fifth day of early voting. The number is well beyond the number of early votes cast in the August primary, which shattered state records.
Alluding to Tennessee’s recent voter ID law, the release from the Department of State stated that, based on the most recent numbers, only 31 voters statewide had been forced to vote with a provisional ballot because they had showed up at polls without a state- or federal-issued photo ID. Of those 31 individuals, 16 had already returned with proper ID and had their ballots counted.
Hargett touted the smoothness of early voting.
“I am pleased voter turnout remains strong,” Hargett said in a prepared statement. “Tennessee voters continue to take advantage of the flexibility and convenience of early voting.”
For state Democrats, however, the numbers were not enough to reflect the number of voters who may have been discouraged to vote because of the new requirements. Brandon Puttbrese, communications director for the Tennessee Democratic Party, suggested that any claims from Hargett’s office glossed over voter groups such as students, the elderly and the sick, who may have not had the opportunity to fulfill the new requirement in order to cast a vote.
“If the intent was to discourage some lifelong voters from participating in our democracy, then mission accomplished,” Puttbrese said. “The worst part-it’s nearly impossible to track down these folks in a meaningful way. So there’s now way to know how many people have been excluded.”
Early voting will continue through Nov. 1.
Election Day is Nov. 6.
