The election year comes early and on several fronts in Shelby County in presidential election years.

Early voting begins Valentine’s Day in the state’s presidential primaries with a March 5 election day.

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The last day to register to vote in the Tennessee presidential primaries is Monday, Feb. 5, if you are not already registered to vote.

Contenders for the August ballot of state and federal primary elections, along with nonpartisan local races, can also begin checking out petitions Monday to get on the Aug. 1 ballot.

Here are the primary races on that ballot:

• The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Marsha Blackburn.
• The 8th and 9th Congressional Districts — the two U.S. House seats that cover Shelby County.
• Two of the five state Senate seats that take in parts of Shelby County.
• All 13 state House seats in the Shelby County delegation to the legislature.

Here are the general election races on the Aug. 1 ballot:

• General Sessions Court Clerk, the only countywide office on the ballot this election year featuring the winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries on the March 5 ballot.
• Five of the nine seats on the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board.
• Arlington municipal elections for mayor, three board of alderman positions and two school board seats.
• Bartlett municipal court judge.
• Germantown municipal court judge.

All candidates with petitions checked out have until noon April 4 to file them with the Shelby County Election Commission and get on the ballot.

Winners of the primaries advance to the Nov. 5 general election ballot topped by the presidential general election.

For those in the Republican primaries, there are new state party rules that are more specific about what it takes to be declared a “bona fide” Republican able to run in them — including local primaries.

The rule requiring a primary contender to have voted in three of the last four Republican statewide primary elections remains.

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The Republican state executive committee, meeting last month, moved up a rule disqualifying a primary contender who has voted in a Democratic primary in the last four statewide primaries that was to take effect in 2026.

It is now in effect for this election year.

And if a potential Republican contender sues the party over that or anything else — as several did unsuccessfully in Middle Tennessee in 2022 — they can’t get on the Republican ballot for a decade.

“Let’s just say if I sue the Grizzlies because they won’t let me play point guard — well then they’re not going to let me be a part of the Grizzlies anytime soon,” Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden said on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.

“So it makes sense that if you’re wishing to be a part of an organization, that you wouldn’t sue them because you don’t like the way the rules are set up,” he said. “It was very expensive and a lot of time in federal court. But we did get rulings that sort of strengthen the process that the Republican Party goes through for all of this.”

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You can hear the full interview with Golden via the link in this article.

Two years ago, local Republicans had a similar controversy when Brandon Toney, a political newcomer, attempted to run in the District 31 state Senate primary against Brent Taylor for the state Senate seat to which incumbent Brian Kelsey was not seeking reelection.

Because Toney hadn’t voted in three of the last four Republican primaries, the local party’s executive committee ruled he could not run. Toney stopped short of taking the decision to court.

Toney’s exit had the effect of clearing the primary race for Taylor. And Golden acknowledged the rules could have the same effect in other primaries.

Critics say that could favor incumbents who are more vulnerable in primaries than in general elections.

“I think some of that’s going to depend a little bit on the incumbent, right? Or how people feel about the incumbent,” Golden said.

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He noted Tennessee voters don’t register their party affiliation when they register to vote. They indicate it each time they vote in a primary election.

“Tennessee is one of the lowest ballot access states in the country. Twenty-five signatures and you can run for any office in the state of Tennessee,” Golden said. “Which essentially equates to maybe 15 to 20 minutes out in front of Walmart getting signatures, and you can run for any office. I’m not sure that that’s the best way to go about it.”

Tennessee’s March presidential primary isn’t making much of a stir in majority Democratic Memphis or the majority Republican suburbs that border the city.

Here is the ballot.

President Joe Biden is the only contender in the Tennessee Democratic primary.

Former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Governor and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley are joined in the Republican primary by several other contenders who have dropped out of the race since the deadline to make the Tennessee ballot.

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Republican primary voters also vote for delegates to the Republican National Convention this summer.

A Trump appearance in Nashville later this month is the only presidential campaign event in the state in the runup to the primary.

“I probably would have told you that I expected that everybody would sort of pass through at some point in time, and truth be told, it just hasn’t really materialized,” Golden said of his earlier expectations. “A couple of stops from a couple of the candidates mainly for their own fundraising effort. But not that traditional bus tour from Knoxville, Chattanooga, Davidson to Jackson and down to Memphis.”

Golden said all of the energy and campaign money spent by Republican contenders in the states ahead of Super Tuesday could mean the primary presidential campaign is decided and the general election will be underway by then.

Although Shelby County is majority Democratic, Golden said it is still important to both parties.

“Memphis and Nashville are blue dots in a red sea is the way we like to say it,” he said. “But that being said, the two largest counties for Republicans are Shelby and Davidson. In order for us to win the state of Tennessee, we need all of the votes that we can get out of Shelby County.”

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Meanwhile, representatives of the movement to get a place on the ballot specifically for a candidate labeled as the No Labels contender has been gathering signatures in the city on petitions toward that goal.

The national group is seeking a No Labels heading like that for the Democratic and Republican nominees for president on the November general election ballot for what it calls a “unity presidential ticket.”

No Labels has not yet endorsed any specific independent contenders.

Nakia Burns was gathering signatures outside the county clerk’s office Downtown last month.

“Both parties hate it. So, that’s the main thing,” he told The Daily Memphian. “Voters are aggravated with politicians on both sides. ... You have to get signatures to get a new third party on the ballot.”

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Other organizers have been gathering signatures more recently outside the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library.

They need the signatures of 43,497 Tennessee voters by noon Aug. 7, according to Doug Kufner, communications director for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett.

The state’s requirement is 2.5% of those who voted for all candidates in the 2022 November general election for Tennessee governor.

If No Labels meets that requirement, it then has until Sept. 3 to name its nominees for president and vice president to go on the Tennessee ballot in the only election cycle that regularly draws a majority of Shelby County’s voters to the polls.

In Tennessee, presidential candidates and their electors are in the same column on the left side of the ballot, with the Republican ticket at the top, followed by the Democratic ticket and then the independent candidates.

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Those independent candidates have included the candidates of the Green Party, Constitution Party and Libertarian Party without identifying the names of their parties.

The founding chairman of No Labels is former U.S. Senator and 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman.

Former Republican North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and Rev. Ben Chavis, a former national executive director of the NAACP as well as a minister of the Nation of Islam are national co-chairmen of No Labels.