Memphis-Shelby County Schools are closed to students for Election Day next Tuesday, Nov. 5, even though no district locations are being used as voting sites.

The reason, MSCS board chair Joyce Dorse-Coleman said, is that school officials prepared the 2024-25 school year’s student calendar two years ago, before schools were eliminated as places to vote in Shelby County.

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“We make the school calendar two years in advance. The legislation came down since we made that, so we did not go back and change the calendar,” Dorse-Coleman said.

The legislation she refers to dates back to 2021, when the Tennessee General Assembly passed a new law mandating that any public or charter school being used as a voting site for a November election must be closed to students that day as part of efforts to enhance school safety.

That led to all MSCS schools being closed on Nov. 8, 2022, for Election Day, even though only 12 schools were being used as voting locations. There was no federal election in November 2023, so MSCS schools did not close that year.

For this year, the Shelby County Election Commission decided to remove all schools as voting locations, citing both the state law and the general hassles of using such facilities.

“We made the decision that we would no longer use schools as polling places,” said Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips. “That’s just the one day schools are wide open. Yeah, it’s fun for kids to watch you vote, but schools make lousy polling places. If we’re in the gym, they can’t go in the gym that day. If we’re in the library, they can’t go in the library that day. There really are a lot of problems in using schools.”

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Phillips said that the election commission finished selecting replacement sites — churches, community centers and the like — in December 2023.

Beverly Davis, president of the Whitehaven Empowerment Zone PTSO, believes the district should have canceled the off day once it was clear no schools were being used as voting sites.

“Why would we close schools down on a day we know these kids need learning?” said Davis, who serves on an advisory group of parents and community leaders in Whitehaven. “I think it’s unnecessary, and it’s not something we need to be doing. Our kids need to be in school every day.”

While students will get Tuesday off, teachers will still have to report for at least part of the day for staff development, according to the MSCS calendar. 

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Phillips said she doesn’t believe the election commission will ever go back to using schools.

“I think it would be unlikely unless the legislature changes the law,” she said.

However, not every county in Tennessee has moved away from schools, particularly smaller counties that may not have access to other facilities.