Automatic voter registration
Online voter registration
Pre-registration before turning 18
Number of days prior to election a voter must be registered is 15 days or less
Online voter registration closes 15 days or less before Election Day
Registration drives
Same day registration offered in all elections
Same day registration located at polling place
Same day registration offered only during early voting
All mail voting
In-person early voting
Amount of early voting days is higher than 7
Election day is a state holiday
No-excuse mail voting
12+ hours of open polls
Paid time off work to vote
Time off work to vote
Felons can vote after incarceration with completion of sentence
Felons can vote immediately after incarceration
Felons can vote while incarcerated
No ID required to vote
Mental competency not required to register
Non-photo ID required to vote
Photo-ID required to vote
Upcoming Elections
Voting Qualifications
Deadlines
More Information
Voters do not declare affiliation with a party in order to vote in primary elections, but they must choose one party's ballot.
You may vote by absentee ballot in Tennessee if:
- You are sixty (60) years of age or older.
- You will be outside the county where you are registered during the early voting period and all day on Election Day.
- You are hospitalized, ill or physically disabled and unable to appear at your polling place to vote (this includes persons who have underlying medical or health conditions which in their determination render them more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 or at greater risk should they contract it).
- You are the caretaker of a person who is hospitalized, ill, or disabled (this includes voters who care for or reside with persons who have underlying medical or health conditions which in their determination render them more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 or at greater risk should they contract it).
- You or your spouse are a full-time student in an accredited college or university outside the county where you are registered.
- You reside in a nursing home, assisted living facility or home for the aged outside your county of residence.
- You are a candidate for office in the election.
- You are observing a religious holiday that prevents you from voting in person during the early voting period and on Election Day.
- You serve as an Election Day official or as a member or employee of the election commission.
- You will be unable to vote in-person due to jury duty.
- You have a physical disability and an inaccessible polling place.
- You or your spouse possess a valid commercial drivers license (CDL) or Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) card and you will be working outside the state or county of registration during the open hours of early voting and Election Day and have no specific out-of-county or out-of-state address to which mail may be sent or received during such time.
- You are a member of the military or are an overseas citizen.
- You are on the permanent absentee list
Do I qualify for the permanent absentee list?
You will receive an application for ballot for each election if your licensed physician signs a statement stating that, in their judgment, you are medically unable to vote in person. The statement must be filed not less than seven (7) days before the election and signed under the penalty of perjury.
If you are voting in person in Tennessee, you must present one of the following forms of photo ID when you vote early or on Election Day (these IDs may be either expired or unexpired):
- A Tennessee driver’s license
- A US passport
- Photo ID issued by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security
- Photo ID issued by the federal or Tennessee state government
- US military photo ID
- Tennessee handgun carry permit with your photo
A student ID or any other ID not issues by the federal or Tennessee state government will NOT be accepted.
If you don’t bring a photo ID, you will vote a provisional ballot. You will then have two (2) business days after Election Day to return to the election commission office to show a valid photo ID. Upon returning to the election commission office, the voter will sign an affidavit and a copy of the voter’s photo ID will be made to be reviewed by the counting board.