Tennessee voter turnout has been historically abysmal. Two main reasons for this are that a significant number of eligible voters are not registered, and of those that are, many don’t vote. So as Third Actors, what can we do?
I only recently became a Tennessee resident. I am a second generation Californian and I’m still getting used to how things are done in my new home state. I voted for the first time in Tennessee during the Republican (!) Primary in May. There were only a couple of contested races in Fentress County where I live, so it wasn’t a very crucial election. Nevertheless, I think voting in all elections is important and I especially wanted the experience of voting in my new state, so I voted.
As mentioned, one reason for low voter turnout in Tennessee is not being registered. I participated in several voter registration drives in California which were very easy to organize. Of course, it’s possible to register to vote online, but it’s also possible to register in person regardless of where in California one lives. The form is uniform throughout the state with the voter’s county noted on the form. I worked with a team in California that attended naturalization ceremonies. As nonpartisan workers, we sat outside the ceremony venues and offered to register new citizens as they left the ceremony. We were very careful not to persuade anyone to register with a particular political party, however sometimes the new citizens wanted information about which candidates were affiliated with which party, and we were able to provide that information. I am fluent in Spanish, so I was able to chat with folks in Spanish about voting and answer their questions.
We were very successful in registering many new voters at these events. I can understand that this particular method may be a little more complicated here in Tennessee since voter registration is done by county, however I think it would be possible. Tabeling at such events could also provide a venue for distributing voter registration information to all.
According to estimates derived by Claude:
“Tennessee typically ranks around 20th-25th among states for naturalizations. Applying Tennessee’s approximate share (-0.9-1.0%) of national naturalizations to the 818,500 total yields a rough estimate of about 7,000-8,500 new citizens in FY 2024. This is consistent with ceremony-level data: individual ceremonies in East TN in 2024 each drew around 150 participants, with multiple ceremonies held throughout the year across the state’s three federal court districts.”
It seems that adding several thousand new voters to TN’s voter eligibility pool would be a worthwhile endeavor for GOTV campaigns.
Encouraging reluctant voters is the other goal in combating low voter turnout in Tennessee. In the past few months, I, along with other Third Actors, have attended webinars presented by several organizations such as Nonprofit Vote. They have dedicated themselves to increasing voter engagement. One of the methods organizations use is to personalize voting so potential voters recognize how voting can benefit them. The resources developed by these organizations are available at no cost and can be customized to a particular audience. I think Third Actors would do well to use some of these strategies. Voter participation in all states is generally calculated by looking at turnout in Presidential elections. It is commonly known, however, that participation is even lower in primaries nationwide. There is a certain amount of voter apathy toward primaries. Some see primaries as having too many candidates to choose from and voters don’t take the time to find out who the candidates are. Others ironically feel their vote is superfluous in a primary and the only “real election” is the general election where their vote “counts”.
I’ve also noticed that there are far fewer voting reminders out in Tennessee than in California. I’m not referring to campaign leaflets from certain candidates, but important deadline reminders, registration information and voting options information for all citizens. I remember being bombarded in California with voter information from hardcopy print flyers and postcards that arrived by snail mail to many email and text messages. There are billboards and highway signs reminding voters of important dates and participation guidelines. I was surprised before the May Republican Primary this year that I had to research general voting information online and I would have missed the date altogether if I hadn’t done so. Here in Fentress County, there were no mass mailings reminding folks to vote. I feel Third Actors could also get this information out to the public.
I highly encourage Third Act to actively utilize the myriad of resources available to GET OUT THE VOTE.
Margaret Baznik-Sanders
Member, Third Act Tennessee