Two years ago, Richard Dixon was taking his children to the pediatrician when he said parked next to a convertible with its top down.

He looked inside and was shocked at what he said he saw: a huge pistol in the door pocket, available for anyone to reach inside and take with little to no effort.

That explains why Dixon, 55, was anxious to vote in favor of the referendums on the ballot Tuesday, Nov. 5, that seek to tighten gun laws in Memphis, even if it causes blowback from state officials opposed to the idea.

“I took a picture and sent it to a police officer I know. I said, ‘What law is this breaking?’ He said, ‘None,’” said Dixon, who voted Tuesday at One City Church, 120 N. East Yates Road in East Memphis. “Here are my two kids, and here’s a convertible with the top down (and a gun). It was shocking.”

Jameelah Quinn, 20, voted for her first time Tuesday. 

“It felt good,” she said of voting. Quinn voted for Vice President Kamala Harris. Her main issue: reproductive rights. 

No lines at voting locations across Shelby County

“I feel I should be able to have my own opinion about my body,” she said.

Quinn didn’t remember who she voted for Congress or Senate but said she voted for the Democratic candidates. 

Election officials expected a lot of voters in Tuesday’s presidential general election would be changing their addresses at the polls.

And so far that has been the most extraordinary thing about an Election Day that has included some rain. There were some lines when polls opened at 7 a.m., but those dissipated as quickly as the rain left.

“It was busy at 7 a.m. I’m not hearing of lines anywhere,” Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips said at a noon update of polling locations across the county. “There have been an extraordinarily large number of address changes, which of course takes more time.”

The Shelby County Election Commission usually sees more address changes in presidential elections than in other election cycles, possibly because of the large number of voters who only vote in the presidential general election cycle every four years.

Early Tuesday morning in Bartlett at St. Ann Catholic Church and School at 6529 Stage Road, voters didn’t have to endure much of a wait time. P. Scott was there to cast her vote for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“Because he represents some of my beliefs. I believe in God. So that’s the main thing,” she said, adding she thought some of the things Harris has said go against her beliefs. She admitted she knew little about the local races or candidates.

Since he does not drive, Rick Wilgus got a friend to take him to Saint Ann’s to cast his vote for Harris.

“I’m not voting for a convicted criminal,” he said. “I like Harris. I think she’s going to do a good job. At least she doesn’t talk bad about people and call them names.”

Tennessee’s two U.S. Senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, blitzed Second Baptist Church in East Memphis and The Great Hall in Germantown Tuesday morning just ahead of a late morning rain.

Blackburn made an obligatory plug in her reelection bid but devoted most of her attention at Second Baptist to Republican state Rep. John Gillespie’s reelection bid.

Hagerty’s seat is on the ballot in two years. 

Hagerty came to Memphis this morning from Pittsburgh. He and Blackburn have been part of former President Donald Trump’s national campaign in battleground states.

At Whitehaven Community Center, a steady patter of foot traffic was in and out around 8 a.m., including Cheryl McNeal, who voted for all the City of Memphis referendums on guns and split her otherwise Democratic ballot to vote for an independent candidate in the presidential election, saying she wants a completely new vision for the country.

Manuel Boddie voted yes on all three of the gun referendums, including the one to ban assault rifles in the city.

“They need to do something with these guys having these pistols,” he said.

He also voted a straight Democratic ticket, starting at the top with Harris, whom he called Kamala.

State House District 97 candidate Jesse Huseth showed up around 10 a.m. to greet the small number of voters shuffling in and out of the Bert Ferguson Community Center in Cordova.

Speaking about the City of Memphis gun referendums, Huseth told The Daily Memphian they are necessary and that, if elected, he is interested in introducing safe storage legislation at the state level.

The state already requires safe storage for guns left in cars, but without penalties for not doing so, the law lacks teeth.

“It’d probably be a fine (for unsafe storage). I’m not interested in incarcerating folks for having their property stolen,” Huseth said. “It’s just like if you’re in your house and your child finds a firearm and uses it, that’s a problem… I don’t like legislating responsibility, but if you see a problem happen enough times, you have to take action,” he said.

DeSoto County submitted more absentee ballots than anywhere else in Mississippi before the polls opened for the Nov. 5 general election. 

Nearly 200,000 ballots have been collected statewide since absentee voting began in September, according to the most recent data from the Mississippi Secretary of State.

And exactly 18,137 of those ballots were successfully submitted from voters in DeSoto County.

What to watch for in the presidential general election returns

The most populated county in Mississippi, Hinds County, submitted 12,360 ballots that were ultimately accepted by the state.

There were lots of cars around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday at the Glenview Community Center, where people were streaming in after the night shift and before the day shift.

At Glenview, 1141 S. Barksdale St., LaVergie Singleterry voted for the City of Memphis’ referendum to ban assault rifles.

She also voted to allow the Memphis City Council to set their salaries.

State Rep. G.A. Hardaway was at Glenview greeting voters before 7:15 a.m.

Voters trickled in and out of Balmoral Presbyterian Church when polls opened early Tuesday morning. There was no line at the church, at 6413 Quince Road, as of 7:30 a.m. 

Brenda Highsmith voted at Balmoral Tuesday morning, casting her presidential ballot for Kamala Harris. 

“I believe she will bring about a change. I’m tired of Donald Trump and the rhetoric. I don’t believe he was a good president last time, and I don’t believe he’ll be a good president this time,” Highsmith said. “He’s a criminal, and I believe our standards should be much higher for someone running for the office of president,” she said. 

Hishan Abkhrayeeh, who is originally from Palestine, voted for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president. He’s been in the United States since 1987.

Polls are open at 142 precincts across Shelby County as of 7 a.m. on this Presidential General Election Day as we begin our live blog coverage.

Polls are open until 7 p.m. and if there are any lines at 7 p.m., voters who are already in line will be able to vote.

Election Day comes after a 14-day early voting period in which 257,515 voters cast ballots at 26 locations across Shelby County.

“It was higher than I expected,” Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips said Tuesday morning at the Elections Operations Center at Shelby Farms.

The curtain rises on the final act of the 2024 presidential general election Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 7 a.m. in Shelby County.

That’s when polling places across the county open for a 12-hour period.

Here are the basic mechanics of voting on Election Day.

Shelby County Election Commission gears up for Nov. 5

Voter essentials

Here is the sample ballot that lists the races and the candidates.

Elections are primarily about winners and losers, but that’s not all you will find in the vote totals.

There are trends even in losing campaigns when you compare totals and turnout.

Echols: What to do about the election

Here are some of the numbers to watch, and what those numbers have been in recent elections, including in the last six presidential general election races in Tennessee — to nab the state’s 11 electoral votes.

Here is how the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees have fared with Shelby County voters and statewide. The totals go back to the 2000 presidential general election, when the ongoing trend of the Republican nominee winning Tennessee began.