Sanford: Heated presidential race still a spectator sport for Tennessee
Otis Sanford
Otis Sanford is professor emeritus of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis and political commentator for WATN-TV ABC24 News. Contact him at o.sanford@memphis.edu.
The Daily Memphian welcomes a diverse range of views from guest columnists on topics of local interest and impact. Columns are subject to editorial review and editing for length and clarity. If you’re interested in having a guest column considered by The Daily Memphian, email Eric Barnes.
At precisely noon on Monday, Oct. 21, I drove into the parking lot of the Tennessee Shakespeare Co. on Trinity Road in Cordova.
Luckily, someone was pulling out of a parking space not far from the building’s front doors. Otherwise, I would have been relegated to a spot somewhere in the rear of the lot.
For the first time since Elaine and I returned to Memphis in 1994 after living in Pittsburgh and Detroit for seven years, we went to vote early as a four-person family team. With us were two grandchildren — MeKaela, 20, a voting participant, and Dylan, six months, a wide-eyed and cooing spectator.
The line of some 30 to 40 voters circled the lobby floor, but did not stretch out the door. The voting process was seamless and took less than 30 minutes, with Dylan easily becoming the star attraction for Democrats, Republicans and Independents waiting to cast their ballot.
It was a charming moment in what otherwise has been an agonizing and often low-brow presidential campaign. And where turnout for the start of early voting in Shelby County has been far below expectation.
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