Crowded Ballot Has Nashville Voters Doing Their ‘Homework’

The final day of early voting in Nashville turned out to be the biggest. According to The Tennessean, a total of 54,000 people turned out to cast a ballot early. That’s effectively the same pace of voting as eight years ago. Many voters say having seven candidates for mayor made it tough to pick one.

Helping decide the mayor’s race was the big draw for those casting early ballots. But sorting out the crowded field could be frustrating.

“It was very hard, because they all had good points. I’ve seesawed back and forth between three of them, really,” Mary Lou Spurlock said outside the early voting site in Madison.

It can be difficult to wade through who is just making promises in order to get elected, says Shereka Cawl.

“You don’t know who’s telling the truth and not,” she said.

Others said they asked for advice from their most in-the-know friends, or tried to sort through the barrage of advertisements. Still, some were left wanting more.

“It feels like there’s been a lack of information of the platforms of which these people stand and exactly what their mindset is and actually who they are,” Scott Abbott said. “You see a lot of these ads on TV and radio and they really don’t address the issues as to who these people are.”

Marshall Foster says some candidates seem to have a “real plan” for Davidson County.

“Other ones, they’re so vague, I don’t think they’ve given a thought,” he said.

Voters yet to cast their ballots have between now and Thursday to make up their minds.

Also on the ballot are 26 candidates for the five at-large council seats. It’s likely that both the mayoral and the at-large council contests will trigger a runoff in September. But that will be decided at the polls on Thursday.