It's election day! Why aren't voters more excited?
Good morning, readers:
It's election day in Tennessee, and I wish more voters were excited.
I follow the Secretary of State's reports on the status of voting, and early voting figures left me disappointed.
The context is this: In the 2014 midterm elections, voter apathy was so high that Tennessee ended up ranking 50th in the United States for voter turnout.
But 2018 saw a dramatic rise. After all, there were open seats for governor and for U.S. senator.
However, 2022 early voting totals have fallen below the 2014 figures.
Just look at the numbers for the full 14-day early voting period:
2014: 564,733
2018: 626,894
2022: 477,873
Voter turnout rose 11% from 2014 to 2018 but then plummeted by 23% four years later.
In 2018, the USA TODAY Network Tennessee held a Civility Tennessee event called "Why Aren't Tennessee Voters Voting Like They Should?" at Lipscomb University in Nashville. Secretary of State Tre Hargett was one of the panelists who helped us try to examine why voter turnout was so low, and it looked like we had turned a corner by November.
Granted, this is a primary election, there's no senatorial race, and incumbent Gov. Bill Lee is unopposed in the Republican primary.
Consider some of the few counties where early voter turnout did rise, however:
Clay: 14.99%
Cocke: 0.91%
Franklin: 3.12%
Lauderdale: 28.14%
Lawrence: 27.95%
Lincoln: 9.76%
Shelby: 0.73%
The Shelby County numbers may influence the ultimate outcome of the Democratic gubernatorial race, where two of the three candidates are from Memphis.
Here are notable declines: Davidson (38.83%), Hamilton (8.1%), Knox (27.61%), Maury (26.12%), Montgomery (12.98%), Rutherford (29.15%), Williamson (8.37%) and Wilson (48.76%). Both Greene and Sevier counties had the steepest drops at about 65% each.
We can do better, and we need to do better.
Scroll to read important Election Day and other commentary.
The Tennessean Editorial Board surveyed candidates for office, and you can read their replies to our questionnaire here — they include candidates for governor, Congress and some legislative and local seats.
Knoxville News Sentinel columnist William Lyons writes that if Americans are not careful, they will turn over their democracy to autocrats.
Journalism professor Amanda Little, founder of Kidizenship, explains how her organization is encouraging young citizens participate in democracy.
Vaneet Singh, of Memphis, writes about how he and other Sikh Americans are commemorating this weekend the anniversary of a massacre against a Sikh house of worship 10 years ago.
Retired Rutherford County school teacher Judy Whitehill explains how challenging it is to be an educator in the classroom and calls for more respect and support.
Some bonus reads:
I write about the contentious Tennessee U.S. House District nine-candidate Republican primary and how negative ads have turned it into a race to the bottom.
Dawn Harrington, of Jackson, and Jan Blair, of Johnson City, from Free Hearts write about Emancipation Day, which is celebrated on Aug. 8, and how this is the year voters should abolish slavery once and for all in Tennessee.
Out of the office
Half the opinion and engagement team (including me) is in Las Vegas this week for the first in-person national journalism conference we have been to in some time. We hope to come back with insights, ideas and more informed perspectives. Keep sending your ideas, questions and commentary.
Thank you!
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network - Tennessee. Email him at dplazas@tennessean.com, call him at (615) 259-8063 or tweet to him at @davidplazas. Subscribe to a USA TODAY Network - Tennessee publication.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: It's election day! Why aren't voters more excited?
