MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Early voting for the November 3, 2026 general election and suburban municipal elections opens Wednesday, October 14 and runs through Thursday, October 29, according to the Shelby County Election Commission's key-dates schedule.
The Election Commission lists 26 early voting sites. Most are open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays; the Election Commission's own site at the James Meredith Building, 157 Poplar Avenue, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. All sites are open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 17 and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, and no hours are listed for Sundays, October 18 and October 25. The full list of sites, addresses, and hours is in the Election Commission's early voting schedule. Registered voters may use any early voting site in the county.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Saturday, October 24. Voter registration for this election closed Monday, October 5.
The ballot is a full one. At the top: Tennessee's open governor's race and a U.S. Senate seat, plus U.S. House races. Under the congressional map lawmakers adopted in May 2026, Shelby County is split among the 5th, 8th, and 9th Districts, so voters should confirm their district with the Tennessee Secretary of State's lookup before voting. State legislative seats on Shelby County ballots include Senate Districts 29, 31, and 33 and House Districts 83 through 88, 91, 93, and 95 through 99, per the Election Commission's schedule.
Five suburban municipalities also elect local officials on November 3, according to the Election Commission: Bartlett, Germantown, and Lakeland elect mayors; Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, and Millington elect aldermen; Lakeland elects commissioners; and all five elect municipal school board members.
The Election Commission can be reached at (901) 222-1200. Its next regular meeting is Monday, October 26 at the O.C. Pleasant, Jr. Election Operations Center, 980 Nixon Drive, and can be viewed on Facebook Live.
Why It Matters for Memphis
Every Shelby County voter has a governor, a U.S. senator, and a congressional seat on this ballot, and turnout in the early window historically decides whether Election Day lines are manageable. For the five suburban cities, these municipal races decide the mayors and boards that set suburban property tax rates and the boards that run five of the county's six municipal school systems.
The Oversight Question
The Election Commission's job between October 14 and November 3 is logistics under scrutiny: enough sites, accurate ballots, and published wait information. The record of how it performs is public, and this newsroom will be checking the receipts.
Update, October 11, 2026: The Election Commission completed final inspections of its early-voting machines on Thursday, October 8, 2026, and Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips urged voters to review three constitutional amendments and three Memphis charter questions before reaching the machine, per Action News 5. A public inspection of the Election Day machines is set for October 21. The 901 Report covered it in Shelby County's Early-Voting Machines Pass Inspection as Officials Urge Voters to Review Ballot Questions.
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