Learning paper ballots for early voting July 17
Early voting for the Thursday, Aug. 6, County General Election/Town of Farragut Election and federal/state primaries starts Friday, July 17, and those planning to hit the polls will see a brand new voting method in paper ballotting.
Instead of rotating a small electronic wheel and clicking their choices, voters will physically mark their selections with a pen on a paper ballot inside the booth, then take it to an electronic scanner, which will record the vote.
Chris Davis, Knox County administrator of elections, said poll volunteers and staff have been training for several weeks on how to guide voters through the process, and are ready as early voting begins Friday at Farragut Town Hall and nine other Knox County locations through Saturday, Aug. 1.
Early voting hours will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday; and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays. Hours will be extended one hour the first three days of the last week.
“We had a lot of complaints after the 2016 Republican Primary Election, when we were still using the electronic wheel to record votes,” Davis said. “We had a lot of people telling us they didn’t want to be turning that wheel.”
Officials decided at that time to begin looking at other methods of ballot casting, he added, and Knox County Election Commission voted in December 2019 on the new paper ballotting process.
“Each voting system is unique to each county,” Davis said. “Loudon County has a hybrid, between electronic balloting and the paper ballots, while Blount has decided on the same system we will be using.”
He said one benefit will be the lessening chances of election fraud.
“The voter can actually see their choices on the paper, then that paper is literally stored in case it ever needs to be re-checked,” he said. “Of Tennessee’s 95 counties there are about 15 different systems, so that, too, would ensure there wouldn’t be any type of successful hacking.”
“The biggest challenge will be the lines,” Davis added. “With COVID-19 restrictions, voters should expect the possibilities of long wait times.”
General Election
Also on the ballot will be Vice Mayor Louise Povin and Alderman Drew Burnette for Town of Farragut aldermen. Both are running unopposed.
