Slow turnout at Cleveland polls may be due to big early voting crowd

Arkansas-Tennessee Live Blog

In Cleveland, candidates and their campaign supporters are weathering the sun to wave at passing motorists in the hopes some of them are voters too.

The three candidates for Cleveland City Council fifth district traded good-natured comments, standing side-by-side, at E.L. Ross Elementary precinct in the mid afternoon shade of a big tree.

"It's been slow," Dale Hughes said of voter turnout. "We all agree on that.''

Candidates and election workers agreed at Hopewell and the Senior Activities Center precincts too that maybe the large early voting turnout was a factor.

The Bradley County Election Commission reported 8,155 early voters. In the past, early voting tended to be about half the votes in local elections. The polls close at 8 p.m.

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