This series opened with a question: Have you read your paperwork? It closes with a promise. The power we hold does not clock out when the polls close. This final installment is about the bottom of your ballot, the dates that remain in the election cycle and what your power looks like after the counting is done — your staying power.
On Thursday, Aug. 6, polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Memphis and Shelby County, and you must vote at your assigned precinct. Check your precinct and preview your party’s full sample ballot at electionsshelbytn.gov so nothing surprises you in the booth.
The next order of business is to finish the whole ballot. The top of the ballot gets the earworms — state governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, plus county mayor, commissioners and sheriff. The bottom of the ballot, however, holds the jobs closest to home. The farther down the ballot you vote, the heavier your vote weighs. Do not leave yours blank.
A look down ballot
Six judicial seats are up. Judges in these races run without party labels, so there is no shortcut at the bottom of the ballot — the job description is all you have. The unexpired terms: Circuit Court Judge Division III, Chancellor Part II and Criminal Court Judge Divisions I and VIII. A chancellor is a judge in Chancery Court, which decides civil disputes — contracts, property, business fights and divorces — where the stakes are rights and money rather than guilt or innocence. That last race is seven candidates deep, the longest list on this section of the ballot. Two General Sessions seats are also up, Civil Division 2 and Criminal Division 7. General Sessions is where most of us actually meet a judge: small claims, traffic, misdemeanors and evictions.
Four court clerks are on the ballot: circuit, criminal, juvenile and probate. Clerks as the people who keep a case from stalling. Pick your candidate accordingly.
Then come seven retain-or-replace questions on Tennessee Supreme Court and appellate judges. A “retain” vote keeps the judge in office. A “replace” vote removes the judge, and the governor appoints a nominee to fill the vacancy. That person must then be approved by the state legislature.
The last item on the general election ballot is a two-part county referendum. First is a proposed Shelby County Charter amendment that would let the county commission appoint its own attorney, independent of the county attorney. Part 2 is about how commissioners preapprove the county mayor’s hires. A “yes” writes it into the county’s rulebook. A “no” keeps legal advice where it is. If the referendum passes, the amendment becomes part of the county’s paperwork once the results are certified.
Tucked among all this, school board seats are up in county districts 1, 6, 8 and 9 in Memphis, and in all six suburban municipalities. Arlington voters also will choose three aldermen, and Bartlett will elect a municipal judge.
After the ballots are counted
The first numbers post shortly after 7 p.m. on election night — early voting and absentee totals first, with precinct returns behind them. Every number that night is unofficial.
Provisional ballots are counted within four business days. Then the five-member Shelby County Election Commission certifies the results, no later than the third Monday after the election — Aug. 24 — under Tennessee law.
Certification is the starter’s pistol. Winners of the county general election begin their terms Sept. 1, a date set by Article VII, Section 5 of the Tennessee Constitution. Watch the swearing-ins.
Primary winners have a shorter runway. They advance to the Nov. 3 state and federal general election, where every voter chooses from every party’s nominees. The new U.S. Congress — our national lawmakers, seated in Washington, D.C. — convenes in early January. The Tennessee General Assembly — our state lawmakers, seated in Nashville — convenes the same month, with its live streams running, ready to be timestamped, the whole way through. And the new governor’s term begins in mid-January.
Next up, Nov. 3
Missed the July 27 deadline to request an absentee ballot or to vote early for this election? Vote in person Aug. 6 at your precinct, then build your November plan. Confirm or update your registration at GoVoteTN.gov before the Oct. 5 deadline. If you qualify to vote by mail — voters 60 and older, voters who are hospitalized or ill, jurors, students enrolled outside the county and voters away for the entire voting period, among others — the application window for Nov. 3 opens Aug. 5. File early. The Election Commission warns that waiting until the deadline risks a ballot that arrives too late to mail back. Once you request an absentee ballot, you cannot vote in person in that election except by provisional ballot.
Now comes staying power
Part 1 showed what you are really doing when you vote: selecting leaders and making or changing laws. Part 2 decoded the job descriptions on the ballot — which offices enforce the laws, which ones write the rules and budgets and which ones decide court cases. This finale adds the last piece: sustaining your power.
Name a pressing issue, and this ballot names the office that answers for it.
The immigration task force in Memphis belongs to the sheriff, the U.S. Congress and the state governor. The sheriff runs the jail that receives detainer requests from the immigration task force, Congress funds and oversees it, and the governor decides the National Guard’s role.
The South Memphis data centers belong to the county mayor, the county commission and the District 86 state House seat. The mayor appoints the health director who issues the air permits, the commissioners confirm and fund that office, and District 86 covers the neighborhoods closest to the turbines.
The state takeover push at Memphis-Shelby County Schools belongs to your state senators and state representatives — and to the school board members it would override. The Tennessee General Assembly voted on the takeover; an appointed board will lead the district unless lawsuits against the takeover are successful.
The redistricting of Memphis and Shelby County belongs to the Tennessee General Assembly and the governor, who drew and signed the map splitting the city among U.S. House Districts 5, 8 and 9. Change the mapmakers, and you change the map.
Between now and November, staying power looks like homework we already know how to do. Stream a county commission meeting when the confirmation votes begin. Timestamp the General Assembly’s live streams and write your legislators about what you watched. Keep your registration current before Oct. 5.
After Aug. 6, the counting is the commission’s job. The watching is ours. This is still your business, and the paperwork is still free to read.
Voting is the power we hold — and staying is how we keep it.
