Opinion: Nashville voter turnout for election is pitiful – so far. We can turn it around.
Nashville-Davidson County voters, we have a turnout problem that only citizens who have not yet cast ballots can solve on Election Day.
We are trending toward worse voter turnout in 2024 than in 2020. But there's still time to go to your precinct Tuesday and make your voice heard at the voting booth.
This is about citizens doing their minimal civic participation duty of voting and this is a consequential election. But the numbers do not demonstrate the level of urgency Nashvillians showed before.
In 2020, former President Donald Trump ran for re-election against former Vice President Joe Biden, who eventually won. Now, Trump wants his old job back and faces Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden on the presidential ticket.
What is it about this year? Is it a lack of enthusiasm for the candidates? Frustration with messages from ads, political news, misinformation? Or something else?
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Voter registration is up, but turnout so far is way down
While Tennessee is not a swing state, every vote here still counts and there's more to pick than just president. There's members of Congress, the legislature and the transit referendum .
In 2020, nearly 65% of Davidson County's 480,894 voters cast ballots in the election, according to the Davidson County Election Commission .
Today, the commission reports there are 530,477 eligible, registered voters. That's a 10% increase in voter registration.
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However, early voter turnout was down 13% from four years ago, per the Tennessee Secretary of State's office.
In addition, absentee ballots made about 34,000, or 11%, of the votes for Trump and Biden in Nashville.
So far, 8,743 absentee ballots have been registered in Davidson County although they can be received by mail until Election Day. Nevertheless, making up that deficit is improbable.
In total, early and absentee voting amounted to 52% of votes in 2020. That fell to 42% in 2024. What are we thinking?
The solution to turning this around is for folks literally to vote with their feet. Lines may be long, but this is important. Show up, get your "I Voted" sticker, treat your fellow voters with respect and thank a poll worker.
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at or find him on X at .
If more Nashville-Davidson County voters do not make it to the polls on Election Day,
Fewer Nashville-Davidson County voters cast ballots early in 2024 compared with the presidential election four years ago.
In 2020, a substantial number of voters cast absentee ballots because of the COVID pandemic
Early voter turnout for Nashville-Davidson County lagged in 2024 compared with 2020.
voters cast ballots, a decrease of 13.32% from four years ago.
Four years ago, nearly 53% of voters cast their ball
Meanwhile, the latest statistics from the Davidson County Election Commission that there are more than 500,000 registered voters in Nashville. It's possible citizens are waiting to come out in force on Election Day Tuesday.
On Election Day 2020, nearly 65% of
