More Knox County residents voted early this year than voted in 2014 or 2010 midterm

Knox County’s election workers were prepared for a large turnout for this year’s midterm elections and they had good reason.

Roughly 113,000 voters cast their ballots in early voting, more than the entire number of voters who went to the polls in previous midterm elections, which was approximately 105,000 each year.

Another 4,000 sent in absentee ballots, roughly double the typical midterm number.

Election Day is Tuesday.

Voters are choosing a U.S. Senator, U.S. Congressman and a governor in races free of incumbents.

An average of 8,000 voters flocked to the polls each day. Knox County Elections Administrator Cliff Rodgers called it a “monumental increase.”

“My line has been, 'This is a presidential election masquerading as a midterm,'” he said.

While the numbers have been high, they’re still down from the 133,000 who voted early in 2016 – that race ended up drawing nearly 185,000 voters out. Rodgers said it’s unlikely the county sees that kind of response on Election Day Tuesday.

“They’re coming out like they would, not quite the same number, but it’s still something approaching a presidential election,” he said.

Trump still on the ballot

University of Tennessee political science professor Andrew Nownes said the high turnout clearly shows voters on both sides are more energized than usual.

The higher turnout, he said, could mean good news for Democrats.

“Democrats are especially more energized than usual,” Nownes said. “Generally, especially in midterm elections, Republicans turn out more than Democrats. Thus, higher turnout generally bodes well for Democrats.”

As for what the turnout means, Nownes said it’s simple: Tuesday’s results will be a referendum on President Donald Trump. Either people are with him or they’re not. It is a cliche, but I believe it is true. A 'blue wave' would be a rebuke to the president, while a 'red wave' would mean people are on board.”

Plenty of big races

Knox County voters have the opportunity to vote for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and decide who will live in the governor’s mansion.

Republican Marsha Blackburn is running against Democrat Phil Bredesen for a pivotal Senate seat that’s drawn national attention and President Donald Trump to Tennessee a handful of times. The seat is key as Republicans try to hold onto their Senate majority, which currently sits at 51-49.

Republican Bill Lee is squaring off against Democrat Karl Dean in the gubernatorial race to succeed Gov. Bill Haslam.

And, for the first time in 50 years, a Duncan isn’t on the ballot for the Second Congressional District since Rep. John “Jimmy” Duncan Jr. is retiring. Republican Tim Burchett and Democrat Renee Hoyos are running for the House seat.

Downtown West hiccup last week

Rodgers said the county’s busiest precinct, Downtown West, was offline for about 25 minutes after a “router issue” caused problems for poll workers to be able to search the county’s database.

The voting machines do not run on the Internet and are not connected to it. They were not impacted by the router outage.

More:Voting machines back online at Downtown West early voting location

The outage began Monday afternoon, but the precinct remained open. Poll workers had to phone the county Election Commission and have someone downtown run the person’s information before he or she could vote. This took longer, Rodgers said, but they kept at it with every phone ringing in the office for nearly three hours.

Rodgers said the precinct wasn’t the only building with Internet problems and said there’s no reason to think the outage was some sort of malicious attack of some kind.

AT&T sent technicians out late into the night Monday and back again early Tuesday. The poll was closed the first 25 minutes Monday before the Internet was back online, he said.

Know where to vote before you go

Rodgers stressed voters should visit the county’s website, knoxcounty.org/elections, or call the Election Commission Monday to make sure people know where to vote on Election Day. The office number is 865-215-2480.

Polls open Tuesday at 8 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Click here to lookup where to vote.

Click here to view a list of polling locations.