MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Shelby County Election Commission said Monday that roughly 300 early voters cast ballots missing four judicial races, on a single voting machine at the Christian Life Church early voting location on Davies Plantation Road in Bartlett.

Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips said the cause was human error, that the problem appears limited to that one machine, and that the machine has been taken out of service while remaining machines are retested.

It is the second time in this election cycle that the same four judicial races have been left off Shelby County ballots.

In early July, about 700 absentee voters received ballots that omitted judicial races for the 30th judicial district covering Shelby County Circuit Court, Chancery Court and Criminal Court. A smaller portion of those ballots also omitted a referendum on amending the county charter to let the Shelby County Commission hire independent counsel in ongoing litigation. Those voters were mailed supplemental ballots.

The July error was attributed to Judicial District 30 being coded as Senate District 30.

Early voting has closed. More than 90,000 people voted early, which the Election Commission has described as record pace. Election Day is Thursday, August 6.

The question the supplemental ballot cannot answer

The remedy that worked in July does not obviously work here, and the reason is the secret ballot.

Absentee voters are identifiable. The Election Commission knows who requested a ballot and where it was mailed, so it could identify the roughly 700 affected voters and send each a supplemental ballot.

An early voter who used a machine is not identifiable. Once a ballot is cast it is separated from the voter, which is the foundation of a secret ballot and not a flaw in the system. The Election Commission may know how many ballots that machine recorded. It cannot know which voters cast them.

The 901 Report has not identified any announced remedy for the roughly 300 affected early voters. What that means for those voters, and whether any exists, is the central unanswered question in this story.

What officials have said

Phillips has said this is the first time in her career this has happened. On the July absentee error she said the situation was rectified as soon as it was identified and that everything going forward had been fixed.

She has also pointed to capacity. She said her team has been stretched beyond capacity by the addition of a last-minute judicial race, referring to a vacancy created by a judge's retirement announcement, and described a four-person operation as stretched too thin.

That is a resource explanation rather than a deflection, and it is testable. A four-person elections operation administering a county of roughly 900,000 people, absorbing a late ballot change, is a staffing and budget question that belongs to the bodies that fund it.

On Monday, Phillips said the commission has extensive testing protocols and called this a regrettable human error on one machine. She said voters with questions about their ballot should alert a poll worker.

Nothing in the public record indicates fraud, tampering, or any intent to affect an outcome. Election officials have described both incidents as errors, and no official, party, or candidate has publicly alleged otherwise.

Both parties have already asked for an accounting

After the July absentee error, the Shelby County Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Shelby County issued a rare joint statement.

They said they appreciated the commission's efforts to identify the error and provide supplemental ballots, but that the mistake should never have occurred. They called on the commission to provide full transparency about how the error happened, what safeguards failed, and what corrective actions were being implemented.

That statement was issued on July 13. The second error surfaced on July 31.

Why It Matters for Memphis

Judicial races decide who sits on the courts that handle criminal cases, civil disputes and chancery matters in Shelby County. They are the races voters are least likely to research and most likely to skip, which is exactly why leaving them off a ballot is easy to miss and consequential when it happens.

There is also a margin question. Roughly 300 votes will not change most races. It could decide a judicial race in a low-turnout county election, and Shelby County judicial contests are frequently decided by narrow margins.

And there is the matter of confidence. An election administration that produces the same error twice in one cycle, three days apart from its own public statement that everything going forward had been fixed, has a harder time asking voters to take the third assurance on faith. That is a reason for the commission to publish its findings in detail, not a reason for anyone to doubt the results.

Accountability Watch

Who is accountable: The Shelby County Election Commission and Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips. The Tennessee Secretary of State's Division of Elections, which oversees county election administration. The Shelby County Commission, which funds county operations.

What is pending: Any announced remedy for the roughly 300 affected early voters, and a published accounting of how the same four races were omitted twice.

Timeline: July 2026, approximately 700 absentee ballots mailed omitting 30th judicial district races and, on some, a charter referendum. July 13, joint statement from both county parties. Supplemental absentee ballots mailed. July 31, incomplete machine ballot reported at Christian Life Church. August 1, Election Commission statement. August 3, press conference at the Election Operations Center on Nixon Drive. August 6, Election Day.

Status as of August 3, 2026: No remedy announced for the affected early voters. Machine removed from service, remaining machines being retested.

How to verify: The Shelby County Election Commission publishes statements and results at shelbyvote.com and can be reached at 901-222-1200. Certified results and any contest filings are public. The Tennessee Secretary of State's Division of Elections is the state oversight body.

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