Here are the basics of how to vote early in Shelby County:

Early voting in advance of the Aug. 4 election day is July 15-30.

Here are the locations and their hours.

Commission seeks mix of poll workers for the upcoming election day

All 26 locations are open beginning Friday, July 15. There is no early voting on Sundays.

One location has changed since April early voting in the county primaries. Because of renovation work at Agricenter International, the early-voting site in that area is Tennessee Shakespeare Co., 7950 Trinity Road.

Vote at any of the 26 locations no matter where you live in Shelby County.

Here are the forms of identification required to vote by state law.

This ballot is a combination of a county general election, state and federal primaries, Arlington municipal elections and a Memphis referendum.

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The combination means an election official will ask you whether you want to vote in the Republican primary or the Democratic primary.

If you choose one, it is to vote in the state and federal primaries.

You don’t have to vote in a primary. You can instead vote only in the general elections.

If you vote in a primary, your ballot also includes the general election races.

In primary elections, you can only vote for candidates of the party you choose.

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Some of the primary races will have only one candidate or no candidate for that party.

The winning candidates in the primary races advance to the November state and federal general election ballot.

If you don’t vote early, you can vote on election day, Aug. 4, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at your precinct polling place. 

Your district races, based on where you live, should be on your ballot no matter where you vote early.

Here is how you can check that or try to familiarize yourself with all the races on the ballot ahead of time:

Go to this district locator by the Shelby County Election Commission and enter your address — the address where you are registered to vote.

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You will see a map of where you live with a rectangular box pointing to a black dot on the map. Click on the dot and an arrow pointing right on the right side of the header will appear.

You will then see a box that lists your election day voting place and your precinct number. For purposes of early voting, those don’t matter right now. 

Below the precinct and polling place information are the districts you live in and some but not all of those districts can be found on this ballot.

They are the U.S. Congressional district you live in, the Tennessee state House district and the Tennessee state Senate district along with your Shelby County Commission district. If you live in Memphis or unincorporated Shelby County, it includes your Memphis Shelby County Schools district.

Three of the five state Senate districts that include Shelby County are on the ballot. The other two are on the 2024 ballot. Four of the nine school board seats are on the ballot with the other five in 2024.

When you go to vote early, if your district races on the touchscreen machine don’t match what you’ve found above, stop and call for an election official. Do not cast your vote and then call for help.

A way to review this is at the end of making your selections but before you hit the button that casts your vote.

Between those two parts of the voting process, the touch screen will show the choices you have made for you to review including your district races.

That is perhaps the best time to check your district numbers to make sure they match what you looked up on the Election Commission site.