A new voting app breaks down who the early voters were. The broader turnout numbers show more than half of the county’s registered voters have already cast their ballots.

Here’s a quick guide to the competitive races on the ballot and what is at stake in other races that aren’t as competitive.

The decision voters are weighing is whether they want a new voice on the Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen or to keep the current group in place for at least another two years.

Thursday is the last day of early voting in advance of the Nov. 3 election. The large turnout of early voters and those voting absentee so far leaves Election Day turnout as a bit of a surprise. And last-minute appeals to Republican and Democratic partisans is proving that political divisions over the past four years are likely to remain once the votes are counted.

The U.S. Postal Service box in Bartlett will accept mail-in absentee ballots on election day up to 3 p.m. with a guarantee they will be in election commission hands by the time the polls close at 7 p.m. — the deadline to vote absentee.

It’s the second consecutive election the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office has come up with federal funding to buy the updated scanners for Shelby County.

Applications can be made online and are due by the end of the business day at the election commission. Completed absentee ballots are due at the election commission by the time the Election Day polls close at 7 p.m. Nov. 3 and cannot be hand-delivered. 

Here are a few changes in how elections are conducted in Memphis, close elections and even a belated admission that a pivotal mayor’s race was rigged.

Related story: Presidential campaigns have distinctly Memphis flavor

Tennessee may not be a battleground state in the presidential general election, but the absence of the Trump or Biden national campaigns in Memphis leaves a race for president on uniquely local terms.

Related story: A local history of tumult and change at the polls

Absentee voting provides an extra layer of challenge for young voters just trying to be a part of the electoral process.

Traditional campaigns are no longer the norm in 2020 as each candidate tries to find creative ways to get their message out to voters.

Some Collierville residents continue to express frustration as the smell of the landfill often wafts toward their homes. Candidates for alderman weigh in on the matter.

While everyone has an opinion on whether the media is biased regarding national politics, reporters strive to keep coverage of local races as balanced as possible.

Thursday marks one week to the end of early voting in the presidential general election. While turnout has slipped a bit after the weekend, it is still ahead of the early voting count at this point for the three previous elections in the cycle.

For two weeks, the state’s Emergency Management agency has been walking local leaders, including law enforcement, through such election surprises as voter intimidation, disruptions and even civil disorder in the event no one concedes in the contentious presidential race atop the ballot.

Future approvals of the country club will lie in the hands of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, which will soon welcome three new members. 

The firing was confirmed by an election commission spokesperson after state Rep. Antonio Parkinson posted about the change in personnel Sunday on social media.

The total is inexact but ahead of the pace for early voting in the last three presidential elections in Shelby County. Data includes details of who the early voters and absentee voters are and a batch of new voters registered in recent months. 

Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips, on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, says the unofficial vote count may be tallied by midnight Nov. 3. But counting absentee ballots is a complex process.

The ruling is in one of five federal court challenges to state laws governing Tennessee’s absentee ballot process underway as absentee voters are completing their ballots and mailing them back to election commissions across the state.

Welcome to the alternate universe of 2020 election year politics in Tennessee and Mississippi. With less than three weeks to go before Election Day, the races for Senate seats in both states have turned into exercises in ultra-partisan campaigning.

The reason for a canceled Lakeland Board of Commissioners meeting last week came into question over whether incumbent Wesley Wright was trying to avoid a controversial vote.

Both incumbent Portia Tate and Brad Ratliff are running for elected office for the first time. The school board race between Ratliff and Tate is the only contested race this election cycle.

Here are the basics of the absentee ballot process -- applying for a ballot and what to do when you get it. We also outline some important lessons about the process learned in the August elections.

Voters lined up before the doors opened Wednesday at 26 early-voting sites across Shelby County and kept coming through the morning. Early voting continues through Oct. 29. Election Day is Nov. 3.

Related Story: Ballot Basics: Voting Absentee and Lessons from August