Voters are choosing a number of Shelby County elected officials — including mayor, sheriff and commissioners — as well as nominating candidates from both political parties to run in the November state and federal general election.

The Daily Memphian’s voter guide should provide you with everything you need for the ‘who.’ 

Here’s a rundown to help you with the what, when and where. 

Which primary do I vote in?

When you go to vote, you will have three ballot choices: Democratic primary plus the county general election, Republican primary plus the county general election, or the county general election only.

• Here is a sample ballot for voters who choose the Republican primary.
• Here is a sample ballot for voters who choose the Democratic primary. 
• And here is a sample ballot for voters who choose to vote in the general election only.

Tennessee is an open primary state, which means you can choose either primary when you get to the polls regardless of your party affiliation, previous voting record or lack of either.

Once you choose, though, you can only vote for candidates in that primary; you won’t see the other party’s primary election races.

Neither party fielded candidates for every primary race, so regardless of which primary you are voting in, you will still see races on your ballot without a candidate. 

Early voting begins Friday, and high-profile endorsements are already rolling in

Will all of the sample ballot races be on my ballot?

Nope, not even close.

The Democratic sample ballot, for example, shows 13 state House races and all 13 Shelby County Board of Commissioners races. But when you get into the voting booth, your ballot will show only the races in which you’re eligible to vote based on your address. So those 26 races on the sample ballot will only show up as two on your individual ballot.

The same is true for the suburban municipalities. Sample ballots show races happening in all of the city’s suburbs, but those races will only be on the ballots of voters who live there.

Use the Shelby County Election Commission’s locator, which will show your voting location (precinct), as well as the districts specific to the address where you’re registered to vote. (Alternatively, you can use the state’s voter registration lookup tool to find the same information.)

Note: This year, Memphis voters should pay particular attention to their congressional district after statewide redistricting redrew Tennessee’s congressional map.

Where do I vote?

If voting early, you can cast your ballot July 17-Aug. 1 at any of the 26 early voting sites across the county regardless of where you live or the precinct where you’re registered to vote. Early voting is open Monday-Saturday, closed on Sundays.

Times vary slightly, but generally, polls are open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On the last Saturday of early voting, Aug. 1, polls open at 8 a.m. View the full list of locations and schedule here.

If voting on Election Day — Thursday, Aug. 6 — you must vote at the precinct where you’re registered to vote. (Again, you can use the Election Commission’s district locator OR the state’s voter registration lookup tool to find your polling location and districts.)

On Election Day, the polls in Shelby County are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

About absentees

Absentee voters and overseas military personnel have already been receiving ballots. The last day to request an absentee ballot is July 27. The Shelby County Election Commission must receive completed absentee ballots from voters — by mail only — by the 7 p.m. poll-closing time on Aug. 6. State law requires absentee ballots be delivered by mail; hand delivery is not allowed. 

Voters shouldn’t wait until the deadline to request absentee ballots, according to Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips. In previous years, absentee ballots have arrived at the Election Commission after Election Day and therefore were not counted — regardless of the postmark date.

There is also a state law that seems to prevent The Daily Memphian from linking to the absentee ballot application itself.

This is the wording near the bottom of the absentee ballot application: “A person who is not an employee of an Election Commission commits a Class E felony if such person gives an application for an absentee ballot to any person (T.C.A. § 2-6-202 (c) (3); adopted 1979; amended 1994).”

So here is a link to the to the page that has a link to the request form.

This might sound obvious, but ...

If you vote early or absentee, do not vote on Election Day.

The electronic poll books at each Election Day precinct are checked to see, among other things, if you have already voted.

Also, if your ballot doesn’t match what you see in the district locator immediately notify a poll worker. Don’t vote before alerting a worker of the problem.

What do I need, and what can I expect?

At the first table, present your identification. Acceptable forms of ID include:

• Tennessee driver’s license with your photo (a real ID is not required to vote)
• United States passport
• Photo ID issued by the federal or Tennessee state government
• United States military photo ID
• Tennessee handgun carry permit with your photo

You will be asked whether you want to vote on a machine or hand mark a paper ballot. Shelby County uses touch-screen voting machines with a paper trail as well as paper ballots.

To vote on the machines, you get a rectangular piece of paper that you will put in a slot on the voting machine. Make your selections on the touch screen, review and then approve your choices. Your choices are then printed on the paper you put into the voting machine.

When you get the ballot marked with your choices, review it, and if accurate, insert it into the scanner, which will then roll it into a locked ballot box. 

If you hand-marked a paper ballot, you must also take it to the same scanner for the same process.

Whichever way you vote, if you leave without running your ballot through the scanner, your vote will not count.

What’s next?

Follow The Daily Memphian for continued free election coverage (i.e. not behind a paywall), which will all be marked with the green 2026 Elections tag. 

Also, this is the second of three 2026 election cycles. We’ll do this again in a few months for the state and federal general election. (Election Day for that cycle is Nov. 3.)

For a full list of 2026 election dates and links, check out the helpful Upcoming Elections page on the Election Commission’s website.

See anything we missed?

The Daily Memphian intends for this voter guide to be complete and dynamic. If you have a question that we may have missed, please email editors@dailymemphian.com to let us know.