CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — Early voting has begun here in Hamilton County and across Tennessee. Voters who take part in early voting get a few added conveniences.
Nate Foster, Assistant Administrator of Elections in Hamilton County told us, “One of the things that’s nice about early voting is that you can go to any of our six locations unlike election day where you must go to your designated polling place. We’ve got extended hours so we’re going to be open late in the evening so that when people get off work, they have the opportunity to stop by and vote. We’ve got three Saturdays there in early voting this time.
We actually have two different elections that are going on at the same time. We’ve got a state primary that’s going on at the same time as a county general election so voters go to the poll to vote. They’re going to be presented with three options: They can either vote in a Republican primary a Democrat primary, or they can get a general only ballot. The ‘general only’ ballot only contains the races for the county general election, so if voters want to participate in the state primary, they’re going to have to choose either Republican primary or Democrat primary.”
With recent renewed concerns about election security on the national stage, Hamilton County officials say the elections they oversee are fair and secure.
Mr. Foster continues, “We take security and transparency very seriously and so that’s why we conduct public tests before every election. Every single voting machine that gets used in the election is tested during the public test, and we ensure that they all count the votes accurately and we have a third-party independent CPA firm that oversees that auditing process. We have Democrats and Republicans who work here who keep each other honest. Democrats are not going to let Republicans cheat Republicans are not going to let Democrats cheat and we all live here locally. We have a vested interest in the success of the elections in this county so we’re going to work hard.”
