Here is everything you need to know about voting in the city of Memphis election on Thursday, Oct. 5.

The polls are open Thursday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across the city.

Attack ads blanket the airwaves in the home stretch of Memphis mayor’s race

Every voter in this election will vote for mayor and in four Memphis City Council races. Every voter is represented on the council by a single-member district — Districts 1 through 7 — and by a super district, either Super District 8 or Super District 9. Each of the two super districts has three positions, and all six of those seats are separate races. 

Here is the sample ballot.

When you sign in to vote and polling officials look you up in the electronic poll book — the first step in voting — you will choose whether to vote on a machine or by hand-marking a paper ballot.

The touch-screen machine gives you a paper readout of the choices you make. After checking your selections on that readout, you will then feed the piece of paper into a digital scanner while the paper copy goes into a locked ballot box.

If you hand-mark a paper ballot, you feed it into the same digital scanner and it goes into the same locked ballot box.

On the Ballot: What voters need to know for Memphis Election Day 2023

If you somehow leave the polling place without running your paper readout or ballot through the scanner, you cannot reenter the polling place and your vote will not be counted. So don’t forget to put the paper in the scanner before you leave.

Since the last city elections in 2019, the council has changed its district lines twice. So don’t assume you are in the same council district as four years ago and then get a surprise at your polling place.

Here is the election commission’s locator to see what council districts you are in.

1. Put in your address. The locator will show you a map with your address pinpointed.
2. Click on the black dot to bring up a rectangular box.
3. Click on the arrow at the top of that box pointing to the right, and that will bring up another box showing your districts.
4. Keep the box up. At the top, it shows you the precinct you live in and your Election Day voting location in that precinct.

It’s wise to check because the election commission has redrawn precinct boundaries since the last city election in 2019 and also has changed some Election Day polling sites. If you voted in last year’s county, state and federal elections you already know about the changes.

If you voted during the early voting period, you cannot and should not vote on Election Day.

Early voting total highest since 2007 Memphis elections

If you have voted early in past elections and decided to vote on Election Day this time, remember that you can’t vote at any location. You have to vote in your precinct.

Here is the election commission’s reminder about the kind of identification you need to vote in Tennessee.

The election commission is getting some calls from Shelby County voters who live outside the city asking if they are allowed to vote in Memphis elections. The answer is no. You must live in Memphis to vote Thursday.

A Chancery Court ruling earlier in this campaign season said candidates for mayor don’t have to live in the city. But the court case also demonstrated that residency requirements to vote differ from residency requirements to run for office.