Voter turnout is down in Shelby County. How do we improve it?

As early voting ends, fewer Shelby County voters have turned up to the polls than in 2020, limiting the influence of Tennessee’s Blackest county even as it remains a target of the state legislature. As of Monday, 194,598 Shelby County voters had cast ballots in the Nov. 5 presidential and state general election, compared to 270,151 by the same point in 2020, a nearly 30% decrease. 

Voter registration isn’t the main culprit. Shelby County had 604,353 registered voters as of Oct. 1, about 92-93% of eligible adults, according to Linda Phillips, administrator of the Shelby County Election Commission. Instead, the problem is getting voters to cast their ballots. 

Tennessee falls among the eight states with the lowest average turnout rates, based on the 2020 and 2022 elections. The situation is particularly dire in Shelby County, which has the second highest number of infrequent voters — registered voters who have not participated in any of the past three general federal elections — in the state, according to a report by Demos and Organize Tennessee, both nonprofit public policy organizations.

Experts say that while voter apathy and election burnout can play a role in decreased turnout, there are also structural barriers such as strict voter ID laws, polling location closures, felony disenfranchisement laws and restrictions on absentee voting. 

These barriers to voting often have a disproportionate impact on areas with large Black electorates, according to the Demos report. Shelby County had the lowest Black registration rate and second-highest Black nonparticipation rate of the counties analyzed despite having the highest share of Black voters in the state, according to the report. 

This decrease in voter turnout comes as state officials have regularly pursued actions to take power from Memphis and city leaders, a practice called preemption that is more prevalent in Southern states and often used to target people who are low-income and people of color (Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander). 

Local community organizers are still working to improve voter turnout on Election Day, and experts say there are several tactics that can be implemented by the community, city and state to help improve turnout in future Tennessee elections.

Local efforts to support voters on Election Day

On Election Day, CivicTN, a nonpartisan coalition of around 40 Tennessee nonprofit organizations, says it will operate election hubs in Memphis and five other Tennessee cities to encourage voter engagement. 

From the hub, volunteers will phone bank and text “get out the vote” messages, provide real-time assistance to voters — including helping locate polling places, providing rides or offering interpreter services — and monitor voting locations for potential disruptions, said Ron Davis, a digital organizer with Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope, which is a CivicTN coalition member. 

The Memphis hub is a yearlong effort to ensure that “any last voters who haven’t got out to vote yet” are able to do so, he said. 

“We’re trying to be practical,” Davis said. “There’s so many people who face so many barriers, whether it be translation and not having people on site to help them cast their ballot or not having a ride to the polls.” 

Interested volunteers can sign up online. Both in-person and virtual volunteer options are available. 

What can local officials do?

Shelby County already offers citizens opportunities to register to vote while engaging with other government services — you can register while renewing your driver’s license, for example. But, advocates say more can be done beyond registration, such as reminding people about early voting and how to find their polling place.

For example, when someone goes to the Shelby County Health Department for a vaccine or to apply for WIC benefits, they could be given information about voting. Or Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division bills could include a QR code that would take residents to the Shelby County Election Commission’s website, where sample ballots, polling locations and more information are available. 

Other cities in the state are already doing this, says Dawn Schluckebier, advocacy and government relations director at ThinkTennessee, a nonpartisan think tank. In Chattanooga, officials began including voter registration information on water bills. 

“Any help (is good) in getting the messages across, given that local leaders have such a big platform and so many opportunities to touch so many potential voters in their community,” Schluckebier said. 

Cherryl Pigues Crite, founder of SistaGirl!, an organization that fosters conversations among women about voter engagement, economic equality and social justice, said the mayor and other elected officials could turn to TikTok to raise awareness among young voters, or set up a voter information table at the monthly One Memphis events Memphis Mayor Paul Young holds around the city. 

Changes in state law 

Potential voters face a variety of barriers in Tennessee due to state law. 

The state requires first time voters who registered online or by mail to vote in person. This can be a barrier for young voters, who, according to Pew Research, have the lowest turnout rate among all age groups. For a college student who’s away from home, the in-person voting rule could mean taking a day off from classes and flying or driving to the polls. 

Added to those difficulties is that the state requires new voters to register 30 days before an election, the maximum voter registration deadline window, while other states have deadlines closer to the election or allow same day registration. Tennessee is also one of just eight states with a strict voter ID law, requiring all voters to present a federal or state ID with name and photograph, according to National Conference of State Legislatures data. 

When there’s just one obstacle, a person might overcome it, but when there are multiple obstacles to voting, “You can pretty much guarantee that a person who’s never gone through the process before is gonna feel like it’s unattainable to participate in,” said Renee Parker Sekander, former executive director of Organize Tennessee and head of the field program for Young’s mayoral campaign. 

Tennessee has made some progress in accessibility, despite the state legislature’s record of pushing for more stringent voting laws. In 2017, the state launched online voter registration after the move was approved by the state legislature, and the state also offers a long early voting period.

That progress hasn’t been consistent. In 2023, state officials further complicated an already laborious process for people to restore voting rights after a felony conviction, a move that has led some lawmakers to ask for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation. Now, people with felony convictions need to complete two paths of restoration instead of choosing just one of those paths. 

Felony convictions prevent nearly 10% of Tennessee’s voting population from going to the polls, a rate second only to Mississippi. One in five Black Tennesseans is unable to vote because of a felony conviction, the highest rate in the nation.

Community encouragement 

Advocates also say an important source of voter encouragement is the public. 

Engaged voters can encourage their neighbors, coworkers, friends and others to participate by connecting the issues and candidates on the ballot to everyday experiences. 

When the Rev. Earle Fisher, founder of #UpTheVote901 hears people say, “I don’t do politics,” he tells them, “‘Well, politics is doing you.’ 

“I don’t care whether it’s the speed limit on the street, where this pothole is, access to guns, health care, more sophisticated things like equitable contracting … All of these things are byproducts of people who have been elected or appointed or employed to represent as government,” Fisher said. 

Pigues Crite said growing up, she never heard her parents talk about voting. They were active in the city’s sanitation workers movement — even though neither worked for the sanitation department — but didn’t vote, she said.

Now, Pigues Crite not only uses the SistaGirl! organization to encourage women to support each other, including through voting, but she also encourages her own grandchildren and younger residents in her neighborhood to vote.

Practical steps can include telling workers that they are entitled by state law to take time off from work in order to vote, inviting friends to go to the polls together, posting a photo on social media with an “I voted” sticker, and putting out yard signs for your preferred candidates or issues, she said. 

“When I don’t put my signs up, (the neighbors) wonder what’s going on,” Pigues Crite said.

Katherine Burgess is the government accountability reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Contact her at katherine.burgess@mlk50.com

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