The Early Word: It’s Election Day! Plus, Tigers win game, lose Tyreek Smith

Bianca Phillips By , Daily Memphian
Updated: November 05, 2024 6:29 AM CT | Published: November 05, 2024 6:27 AM CT Premium

Good morning, Memphis. After weeks of writing about city ballot referendums, municipal campaigns and early-voting turnouts, we’ve finally arrived at Election Day. If you haven’t voted yet, you’ve got until 7 p.m. to do so. Stay tuned to The Daily Memphian all day for news from the polls. And as usual, our election coverage is free to all readers, so share updates with your non-subscriber friends! 

Memphis-Shelby County Schools students will be out of class today, even though schools are no longer used as polling sites. Sure, some kids will be chilling on their day off, but you might see some students volunteering at polling places.

If you haven’t voted yet, now is the time. And our Ballot Basics guide has tips on finding your precinct and a look at a sample ballot. Something else to note: Some early voters complained of issues with the county’s touchscreen machines, so if that’s a concern for you, know that you can request a stylus if one isn’t provided. If this election season is anything like the last one, we may not know who won the presidential election for a couple days. But both sides are saying, “this is the most important election of our lifetime.” When we do find out who won, there’s still more to the vote totals than winners and losers. The Daily Memphian’s Bill Dries tells us what to watch for in the presidential general returns based on past election cycles. He also tells us which ballot item could be the wild card of the night.

The Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team got off to a rough start against Missouri in their season opener on Monday. But an impassioned locker room speech by Memphis guard Tyrese Hunter at halftime apparently motivated his teammates to come back from behind for a 83-75 win. It’s early yet, but it sounds like this team may be more gelled than last season’s group. The win came without forward Tyreek Smith, who has entered the transfer portal. That news broke Monday hours before the game. Just two weeks ago, Smith’s mentor suggested on X that Smith and the Tigers program had disagreements over name, image and likeness (NIL) payments. Meanwhile, the Tigers women’s basketball team outdeviled the Mississippi Valley State Devilettes with a 89-78 win in their season opener on Monday. Senior forward Hannah Riddick made a career-high 26 points and 17 rebounds, which her coach, Alex Simmons, credits to her hard work all summer.

Plus, Germantown’s water worries are over, Edey has a historic night and we look at how FedEx’s new multimillion-dollar facility came together. 

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Bianca Phillips

Bianca Phillips

Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. She’s a diehard morning person who spends her free time running marathons and ultras. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South.”


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