Early voting begins today in a city election that will complete a term-limit-driven overhaul of the municipal government that began two years ago. Open through Aug. 22, early voting locations are downtown and in each quadrant of the city. The actual primary election day, for those who like to wait, is Aug. 27.

Early voting will run through Aug. 22, with primary election day being Aut. 27.

Knoxville voters will elect a new mayor, plus four new City Council members who will join five first elected in 2017. (The office of municipal judge is not bound by term limits, and John Rosson is running unopposed to continue his long service in that seat.)

The top two finishers in the mayor’s race will go on to the general election in November, unless one candidate gets more than half the total vote. If that happens, that candidate will be the winner and succeed two-term Mayor Madeline Rogero.

In the Council races, the top two primary winners advance regardless of the vote tallies. Three of the four Council races this year have only two candidates. In the primary, all city voters can cast ballots for the at-large seats, but only those living in North Knoxville’s 5th District can vote in that race. All general election races are citywide.

Six candidates are vying to replace  Rogero: Michael Andrews, Fletcher Burkhardt, Indya Kincannon, Eddie Mannis, Calvin Taylor Skinner and Marshall Stair.

City Council candidates are: 

• At-Large Seat A: Lynne Fugate and Charles Lomax Jr.
• At-Large Seat B: David Hayes and Janet Testerman.
• At-Large Seat C: Amy Midis, Amelia Parker, Hubert Smith, Bob Thomas and David Williams.
• 5th District: Charles Al-Bawi and Charles Thomas.
• Municipal Judge: John R. Rosson Jr.

Early voting locations are the City County Building, 400 Main St.; Downtown West, 1645 Downtown West Blvd., Unit 40; Love Kitchen, 2418 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.; New Harvest Park, 4775 New Harvest Lane; and Meridian Baptist Church, 6513 Chapman Highway.

Standard hours the polls will be open are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The polls are closed on Sundays.

There are important exceptions, however. The Meridian Baptist location will close at 5 p.m., an hour earlier than normal, on Wednesdays. The City County Building location will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17. To keep from interfering with orders of protection hearings, the City County Building polls will not open until noon on Thursdays.

Also, the polls will stay open an hour later, until 7 p.m., on the last three days of early voting -- Aug. 20-22. 

More information, including how to cast an absentee ballot, is available by contacting the Knox County Election Commission.

RELATED STORIES:

“Eddie Mannis: Honor, Prestige and Politics” (Jan. 31, 2019)

“Indya Kincannon: Preparation, Policy and Politics” (Feb. 25, 2019)

“Marshall Stair: Making Connections” (March 8, 2019)

“Council Contests: At-Large Seat A” (June 7, 2019)

“Council Contests: At-Large Seat B” (June 12, 2019)

“Council Contests: At-Large Seat C” (Aug. 6, 2019)

“Council Contests: 5th District” (June 17, 2019)