Feature photo by Hannah Carley
Story by Emma Burden and Hannah Carley
As polls opened at 7 a.m., a short line of about 30 voters began filing into Central Magnet School, one of 30 voting locations in Rutherford County. This was the longest line of the day so far, including lunchtime.
Dressed in pajamas, work uniforms and athleisure, voters stood in line quietly, waiting for their turn in the voting booth. Voters breathed in the familiar smell of a high school hallway — pencil shavings, old books and the metallic odor of lockers.
Outside of Central Magnet, the grass was littered with polling signs. Central’s Latin Club stood on the corner of 1 Heart Ln., operating a student-run bake sale.
Sisters KatieMae and Kristen Bean cast their votes at Central Magnet this afternoon. Both frequent voters, the sisters were excited to cast their vote in the presidential election.
“There were three first-time voters just while we were in there,” KatieMae Bean said. “[I think] there’s been a significant increase, and that’s always good to see.”
At 1 p.m., Hobgood Elementary appeared to be much busier than Central Magnet, but inside, the polling place was almost silent. A poll worker noted that today had a “great turnout” of around 500 voters.
In a high school gym, voters dispersed between seven voting machines. Outside, heavy wind knocked over voting signs, and light rain gave way to humid, muggy heat.
“I was here [voting last election], and it [the line] was up and down these hallways,” Scott Proctor said, who voted at Hobgood Elementary this afternoon. “It was an hour plus to get in [last election], but today, I just walked right in. So, that leads me to believe in all the early voting; you can see it. It cannibalized the day of voting.”
Early voting saw 51 percent of registered voters in Rutherford County cast ballots for this election, according to Election Administrator Alan Farley.
Short lines and empty halls aren’t an uncommon polling experience in Tennessee, as the state ranks 45th in voter turnout, according to World Population Review. Almost half of Tennesseans, on average, choose not to participate on Election Day. Over 43.4 percent of qualified Tennessee voters abstained in the past three federal elections, according to the Tennessean.
During the 2020 election, voters broke participation records that dated back to 2008. Over 68 percent of voters cast during early voting, on Election Day or absentee by mail, according to the Secretary of State. The pandemic caused an uptick in voter participation while in-person voting numbers fell.
This article will be updated with evening data.
Emma Burden and Hannah Carley are reporters for MTSU Sidelines.
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