By J. Holly McCall | Editor-in-Chief
Good morning, Lookout readers:
Polls across the state of Tennessee open in just over 24 hours for the midterm elections, the culmination of months, and sometimes more than a year, of campaigning by candidates. Today offers them the last few hours for voter persuasion and pushing supporters to get to the ballot boxes on Tuesday.
Here’s what you need to know:
Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST/8 p.m. EST.
If you are already standing in line when the polls close, you will still be able to vote.
Rain is a possibility for Tuesday afternoon and evening across the state, an event that often dampens voter turnout; if you are averse to rainy weather, consider voting earlier in the day.
In other news, the U.S. Department of Justice is sending 1,000 election monitors across the country, including to Shelby County, reports Action 5 News in Memphis. That another federal agency is setting up shop in Shelby County is hardly a shock, given the conglomeration of federal and state agencies camped in the county for more than a year as the Memphis Safe Task Force — and that the Memphis-based 9th Congressional District was targeted in a spring GOP-led redistricting and is likely to be the closest congressional race.
And in our lead story today, Senior Reporter Anita Wadhwani follows up on a story from last week with a report an immigration advocacy group has sued Tennessee over a new policy refusing drivers licenses to immigrants living in the state legally, including those with work permits.
THE LOOKOUT’S TOP STORY
An immigrant advocacy organization has filed a legal challenge to new state rules denying licenses to immigrants authorized to live and work in the United States, placing them at risk for losing jobs without transportation or for arrest, detention and deportation for driving without a license. Pictured: a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer and a Homeland Security Investigations officer searched a vehicle during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee on Oct. 7, 2025. (Photograph by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
by Anita Wadhwani
An immigrant advocacy organization filed a legal challenge on Friday to new Tennessee rules that deny driver’s licenses to immigrants who are legally authorized to work in the United States, arguing the state failed to follow its own rules by abruptly shifting long-standing license requirements.
ELECTION 2026
Voters stream into a Clarksville poll during the last day of the early voting period for the midterm elections, Oct. 29. 2026. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
by Cassandra Stephenson
More than 1.28 million Tennessee voters cast their 2026 midterm ballots during early voting, outpacing the 2022 midterm early voting turnout by 45%. But the total fell about 98,000 votes short of equalling early voting turnout for the 2018 midterms.
NEWS AND NOTES
Explosive spending, ugly ads and courtroom battles set stage for tense midterm elections | Ashley Murray and Jonathan Shorman, States Newsroom
Federal subpoenas to election officials mark escalating Trump DOJ pressure campaign | Jonathan Shorman, States Newsroom
COMMENTARY
State Sen. Brent Taylor of Shelby County has cultivated an image of toughness and has not been characterized by showing mercy to those he criticizes. At a moment of political crisis days before the midterm elections, he now wants mercy. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
by Rev. Earle Fisher
"I believe in forgiveness. I am a Black preacher. Grace, mercy, redemption, reconciliation and restoration are not foreign concepts to me. But neither is accountability or consistency. That is where this situation becomes larger than Brent Taylor’s private behavior.”
ICYMI
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