TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on May 8, 2026

Voter turnout in Shelby County’s first election of 2026 reached 16%, with 89,848 of the county’s 577,527 registered voters casting ballots through early voting, absentee voting or on Election Day, according to the Daily Memphian. While turnout was not high, it exceeded expectations and surpassed turnout in similar recent election cycles, including 11% in 2022 and 13.8% in 2018. Election officials said a break in the rain on May 5 likely contributed to increased voter traffic later in the day. The county’s partisan primary elections historically have low turnout, with the highest turnout since 1992 reaching 18% in 2002.