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Early voting ahead of Shelby County’s Aug. 1 Election Day topped 17,000 voters in the first of its two weeks.

But the total of 17,216 early votes — cast from Friday, July 12, through Saturday, July 20 — is less than half the first-week total of the same election cycle four years ago.

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There were 36,033 early and absentee votes in the first week of the August 2020 election cycle, a function of the outsized role absentee voting played in a unique election season.

The COVID pandemic ended conventional campaigning shortly after the March Tennessee presidential primaries. Then a court order lifted state restrictions on absentee voting to allow for those who felt unsafe voting in person.

A later appeals court ruling tightened up the restrictions somewhat going into the November presidential general election.

Here are the most recent early voting turnout numbers through Tuesday, July 23, from the Shelby County Election Commission.

The one-week early voting total is ahead of July 2016 when 15,144 of the 43,912 total early and absentee votes were cast through the first eight days.

In 2012, the one-week total was 25,993 of the 62,601 early and absentee votes.

The August 2012 ballot featured the first elections for all seven positions on the new Shelby County Schools board, a year before the August 2013 merger of public education in Shelby County.

The Shelby County Commission later drew up the current nine-member school board encompassing Memphis and the unincorporated county following the demerger of public schools into the current seven districts that cover the entire county.

The Tennessee Legislature later passed a law that required staggered elections for public school boards across the state.

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Early voting continues through Saturday, July 27. Here are the voting locations and hours for the 26 locations.

Absentee voters have until the polls close at 7 p.m. on election night to cast their ballots. But absentee ballots cannot be hand delivered to the Election Commission. They must be delivered by and received by mail before 7 p.m. Aug. 1.

Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips is urging absentee voters to mail their ballots well before Election Day. She has also said the election commission regularly gets mailed absentee ballots after Election Day that cannot be counted even if they are postmarked before.

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What’s on the ballot?

The August ballot features county general elections and Arlington nonpartisan elections along with nonpartisan races for municipal judges in Bartlett and Germantown.

There are also state and federal primaries for U.S. Senate, the two U.S. House seats that cover Shelby County and primaries for all 13 state House seats covering Shelby County and two of the five state Senate seats representing Shelby County.

Among the contested Democratic legislative primaries:

State House District 84 incumbent Joe Towns is being challenged by Vernell Williams. Towns was first elected in 1994 when he ran unopposed for the open state House seat after incumbent Bret Thompson did not seek reelection. There is no information available about Williams. The winner of the August primary has no Republican or independent opposition in the Nov. 5 general elections.

State House District 86 incumbent Justin Pearson is being challenged by David Page, an educator who ran for the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board unsuccessfully in 2022. Page also ran against Pearson in the 2023 special primary for the House seat following the death of incumbent Barbara Cooper. Pearson was reelected to the seat in yet another special election after House members voted to expel him for speaking in favor of gun-control measures on the House floor with a megaphone without being recognized by House Speaker Cameron Sexton. The winner of the primary faces independent Jeff Johnston in the November general elections.

State House District 93 incumbent G.A. Hardaway is being challenged by Lashanta Rudd, an MSCS substitute teacher. Hardaway was first elected to the House in a 2007 special election after Henri Brooks resigned. Rudd was a key figure in the resignation of Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd; Boyd pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of harassing Rudd. The primary winner faces Republican Renarda Renee Clariett in the November general election.