MEMPHIS, Tenn. — With one week left until early voting ends, some of Shelby County’s most historic organizations are making their final pushes to get people to the polls.
On Wednesday, the Shelby County Election Commission reported that voter turnout was down nearly 70,000 compared to the 2020 election.
Every day that early voting has taken place in Shelby County, the numbers have jumped around quite a bit. The first day was the highest by far at nearly 24,000 votes, and it has declined significantly since then, now averaging about 17,000 voters a day.
On Thursday, local chapters of the National Panhellenic Council encouraged voters by partnering with local churches and organizations to give rides to the polls.
With low voter turnout in Tennessee's largest county compared to the 2020 election, members of the nation's oldest Black sororities and fraternities are trying to find solutions.
"We were dealing with COVID, so some people wanted to come out early and vote where there were fewer people at the polls," said Bridgett Turner, the First Lady of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. "I'm not giving up on Shelby County. I want you to get out and vote. Your vote counts."
The numbers are down nearly 70,000 compared to this time in the 2020 presidential election, when nearly 200,000 people cast their ballots during the first week of early voting in Shelby County. During that election, more than 326,000 people cast their ballots in total during all of early voting.
"Like Senator Raphael Warnock is often quoted to have said, a vote is a kind of prayer for the kind of world we want for ourselves and for our children," said Pastor Jason Turner, the senior Pastor at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. "And so when we're voting, we're expressing our voice for the kind of world that we want."
MATA is also doing their part to up voting numbers.
"AARP is going to be sponsoring a ride to the poll actually on the last day of early voting," said Bacarra Mauldin, the Interim CEO of MATA. "So bus rides will be free that day, so there is no excuse. Everybody needs to roll to the poll."
Secretary of State Tre Hargett said especially in a presidential election, looking at the first few weeks of voter turnout can be deceiving.
"We saw seven percent absentee votes statewide during a typical presidential election," he said. "It's two and a half percent, and during non-presidential elections, even below 2%. So I think people here are going to return to voting in person."
A little pool of blue in a historically red state, Hargett says that Shelby County will likely have a boost over the next week.
"I think ultimately what you'll see is you'll see those votes catch up during the rest of early voting on Election Day," he said. "I think you've got some people, maybe, who haven't made up their mind about who they're going to vote for."
Hargett added that Tennessee’s voter turnout is right on par with 2020 at just over one million early voters so far, but this decrease in Shelby County does reflect much of what nearly 40 states across the country are seeing with less voter turnout.