Election officials move quickly to adjust districts for August primary in Tennessee

Administrators in counties affected by Tennessee’s congressional redistricting are working quickly to adjust voter rolls on a tight timeline before the Aug. 6 primary election.

Thousands of voters are affected by the change, but many counties are not planning to mail out notices to voters whose districts have changed, pointing them instead to information on election commission websites. 

Election officials in rural and urban counties told the Tennessee Lookout that more work lies ahead, but they are confident their teams will be ready, even with multiple lawsuits attempting to stop the new map before the election.

Tennessee’s Republican supermajority passed a redrawn congressional map last week in a three-day special session called by Gov. Bill Lee at President Donald Trump’s request, eliminating the state’s only majority-Black, majority-Democrat district, which encompassed all of Memphis and most of Shelby County for 50 years. This leaves Tennessee with nine Republican-leaning congressional districts.

“When we plan and organize for elections following redistricting, obviously we’d like as much time as we can possibly get,” Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips said during a Tuesday news conference. “But our office is required to execute elections according to the law. And last week’s redistricting plans present an aggressive timeline for us, but we will do our job effectively, and we will execute the August election according to the new parameters, unless someone tells us otherwise who is wearing black robes.”

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The redrawn map splits Shelby County into three separate districts, two of which stretch from Memphis through rural West Tennessee counties and end in majority-white and majority-Republican suburbs in Middle Tennessee. Nashville, which was split into three congressional districts in 2022 after the completion of the 2020 U.S. Census, also saw its district makeup change yet again.

Federal law requires absentee ballots to be sent to uniformed and overseas citizens at least 45 days before federal elections — in this case, June 22. 

Ballots for the new districts are not yet finalized.

Under special rules approved by Tennessee lawmakers for the 2026 congressional races, candidates had until noon Friday, May 15, to cement their running status in their preferred district or withdraw from the race. This comes two months after the race’s original qualifying deadline of March 10.

Legislation also removed requirements for county election commissions to send notification of district or precinct changes to voters via mail, stating that commissions may instead post notice of changes on their websites, if they have them.

Here’s how some of the impacted counties are approaching the job.

Shelby County

Previously mostly encompassed by District 9, Shelby County is now split between Districts 5, 8 and 9. The Shelby County Election Commission stated Tuesday that precinct boundaries — and therefore voting locations — will remain the same for the August primary.

Shelby County voters can look up their district at shelbyvote.com.

Shelby County plans to mail notifications to voters whose districts have changed. The county’s election commission requested $350,000 from the roughly $3 million set aside by the state to help counties cover the costs associated with district changes. Funding will go toward overtime costs, vendor rush fees and mailing costs, Phillips said.

Phillips recalled the redistricting process before the 2022 election, in which both state Senate district lines and U.S. House district lines would have to be redrawn if the court granted an injunction against using the new map. U.S. House districts can cross voting precinct lines, but state Senate districts cannot, meaning they would have had to redraw precincts — the most time-consuming part of the process, she explained. 

Maury County

In southern Middle Tennessee, Maury County went from being in District 5 to being split between District 5 and District 9, affecting voters living at 19,662 addresses, according to Elections Administrator Chris Mackinlay. 

Mackinlay said Maury County will not change any of its precinct boundaries and likely will not mail out district change notifications to voters.

Voters are responsible for looking up their district online, he said, “and I would say that has not changed. Regardless of the legislation, they should ideally be aware.”

The Maury County Election Commission has received a “couple dozen” phone calls each day following the new map’s passage, mostly from voters who want to know if they are affected. The office points callers to the commission’s website, which features an interactive map.

“We’re also going to publish sample ballots … so it should not be a surprise what the ballot looks like when someone walks into the voting precinct on voting day,” Mackinlay said.

Mackinlay said he is “100% confident” that Maury County can implement the new map in time for the Aug. 6 election, though he is considering bringing on a part-time employee to help with the work. 

“My fear is that on Election Day, there’s just going to be some confusion around it, so we might bulk up these affected precincts on Election Day,” he said, noting that roughly five precincts are impacted by the new map.

Fayette County

The new map splits Fayette County between District 8 and District 9, affecting voters living at as many as 15,000 addresses, Elections Administrator Joshua Tapp said. 

The Fayette County Election Commission will have the final say on whether they receive mailed notification of district changes. 

The county went through a local redistricting process last year, Tapp said. County election staff will review voter rolls to ensure that everyone is in the correct congressional district for the August primary, which will take some time.

“I believe we can get it done,” he said. “We’ve gone through a couple redistrictings in the past.”

Lake County

Lake County Elections Administrator Michelle Morgan said the county is not planning to change voting precincts. The Lake County Election Commission will decide whether to mail out notices of the district change to voters, but it’s not likely, she said. 

Because the entire county in West Tennessee moved from District 8 to District 5, Morgan said, the administrative impact isn’t significant.

Benton County

Previously split between Districts 7 and 8, Benton County now lies entirely in District 5. Elections Administrator Jeff Beasley said this will be easier for his office, because they will no longer need to order different ballots for different districts or spend as much time answering voter questions about their district assignments. 

Beasley said he is awaiting guidance regarding whether to mail out notifications to voters, but in the meantime, the Benton County Election Commission has posted a notice online. Mailing notices to every voter would be expensive, Beasley said.

Davidson County

Elections Administrator John Richardson told the Davidson County Election Commission Wednesday that he has created a special redistricting team to ensure the county remains on track for the August and November elections.

Before 2022, Davidson County had mostly been kept whole in District 5, but redistricting that year divided it into districts 5, 6 and 7. The new map splits Davidson County among districts 4, 6 and 7. 

Every voter in Davidson County will receive a new voter ID card in late June or early July to ensure that everyone has updated district information at an estimated cost of $300,000,  Richardson said. Voters will also receive sample ballots two weeks before early voting.

Richardson said his office is maintaining two copies of the voter database — one with the new district map and one with the previous map — so Davidson County will be prepared no matter what the courts decide.

Davidson County Election Commission member Kenny Byrd recalled issues in the 2022 congressional race after Davidson County was split into three districts. A lawsuit challenging that map attempted to extend the qualifying deadline until May 5. State election officials filed affidavits with the court in opposition, citing the risk of compromising the integrity of the election. The court ultimately rejected the extended deadline.

“We had thousands of voters that were put in the wrong districts, in the wrong precincts, and several of them were denied the right to vote in the correct district,” Byrd said.

“The state blamed us … they said our staff didn’t do it right, and that was with way more notice than what we’re about to do,” Byrd said.

Davidson County Election Commission Chair Will Burns said election officials’ statutory duty is to implement the laws that the General Assembly passes. Davidson County staff’s job is to “administer the laws the way they’re written, no matter who it helps, no matter who it hurts,” he said.

“If the courts come up with something else, Administrator Richardson had the foresight to ensure that the existing voter registration rolls were copied … he has positioned us well, regardless of the outcome,” Burns said.