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Tennessee: Smooth as velvet

By: Staff Reports

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Hayden & Sunny Murray

After predictions of long waits at the polls, voters and campaigners in Southeast Tennessee found little to be concerned about Tuesday.

“I walked in at 2:30 and went right up to the booth,” Phyllis Wilbanks said Tuesday afternoon as she and her sons Nicholas and Reagan waved McCain-Palin signs at a Cleveland, Tenn., intersection.

“I used Twitter to say there is no wait. Don’t believe the hype. Go vote.”

A bit later in the day, Hayden and Sunny Murray were at the same intersection waving Obama-Biden signs. She is from Indiana, he is from Polk County and they met in the Navy.

“I’ve always been politically vocal, but I’ve become politically active now,” she said. Mr. Murray said campaigning in historically Republican Bradley County he has found “a lot of closet Obama support.”

In Grundy County, Elections Administrator Donna Basham said solid preparation for a big turnout may have thwarted glitches.

“We don’t have any long lines but we have had a great voter turnout,” Mrs. Basham said. “All the precincts have been steady. Everything’s been fine.”

Some administrators reported small flaws.

McMinn Registrar Loretta Sliger said there were some balky machines early at the Rogers Creek precinct and power problems delayed some voting in Riceville. But those quirks were fixed and the rest of the day went smoothly, she said.

Athens, Tenn., had a council election with four candidates seeking two spots on the five-member council. And while that may have created some higher voting numbers in the city precincts, Mrs. Sliger said she believes the presidential election brought forth the most voters.

Sequatchie County had one voting machine problem at the Lewis Chapel precinct on Walden’s Ridge, but “we got another machine up and running before noon, so we were OK,” said Linda Pittman, elections administrator.

“I don’t think the lines have been all that long,” Ms. Pittman said. “But we have had people showing up at the election office thinking that was where they were supposed to vote because that’s where they voted early last time.”

Polk County Registrar Sula Jenkins said nearly a third of the county’s 12,000 voters cast early ballots. She and others said early voting probably contributed to the smooth Election Day.

“It has been busy, but we’ve not had any problems,” Mrs. Jenkins said.

Staff writers Ben Benton, Ron Clayton and Randall Higgins contribute to this report.

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