JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Election commissions are seeing low numbers of early voters for the special primary election to fill the Tennessee House District 3 seat.
Former state Rep. Scotty Campbell resigned from the position in April after an ethics violation and allegations of sexual harassment.
District 3 covers Johnson County and parts of Carter, Hawkins, and Sullivan counties.
Current candidates in the election are Lori Love for the Democratic nomination and Stacy Vaughan and Timothy Hill for the Republican nomination.
The winner of the GOP primary will face Love in the August special general election.
Hill was appointed as the interim representative to the seat in May by Johnson County commissioners. He previously held the District 3 position before Campbell.
Below are the totals since voting opened last Friday:
- Carter County: 29 votes
- Hawkins County: 38 votes
- Johnson County: 196 votes
- Sullivan County: 51 votes
Carter County reported the lowest amount out of votes in so far.
Although District 3 includes all of Johnson and only part of Sullivan, there are more registered voters in the Sullivan County portion (around 18,090) than in all of Johnson County (11,363). There are around 10,223 registered voters in the Hawkins County portion and 4,746 in the Carter County portion.
The Johnson County Election Commission says the turnout has been low and they hope it will start to pick up. Other counties agree that turnout has been low, but that they weren’t expecting high numbers since District 3 only covers a part of their counties.
Early voting ends June 17. Election day for the special primary is June 22.
The special general election is Aug. 3.
