Voter turnout tops 2008 total

Dyer County Election commissioners Thomas Parnell, Joe Enoch, and Jerry Jackson review precinct numbers as they come in on election night. Dyer County Sheriff's Sgt. Heath Walker (right) was among local law enforcement officers working at the election commission on Tuesday evening.

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In a county with 22,747 registered voters, 13,923 decided to vote in this election by early voting, absentee ballot and on Election Day compared to the 2008 presidential election where 13,536 cast their ballots.

Dyer County Election Commission Chairman Joe Enoch said this year's election went very well, but hopes voters will prepare earlier for the elections taking place in 2014.

"They need to know whether they are registered (to vote) before Election Day," said Enoch. "And they need to make sure they are registered at the right address before Election Day."

He pointed out that people began calling the Election Commission when the polls opened at 7 a.m. and continued to do so for the next 12 hours.

"We fielded a lot of phone calls," said Enoch. "The phones rang constantly for 12 hours. Most of it was people moving without checking their change of address and they waited until Election Day to do it."

Administrator Anita Fowlkes said they were busy throughout the day and she was pleased with the voter turnout.

Precinct workers, from polling stations across the county, bring in their machines' ballots to the election commission on Tuesday night. A total of 13,923 voters cast their ballots in Dyer County.

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The votes from Tuesday's election are scheduled to be certified by the election commission on Monday, Nov. 19.

There were three provisional votes that still have not been counted since the voters did not bring a photo ID to the polling station. They were allowed to cast their vote, but it was not included in the tally. Those voters have until Thursday at 4:30 p.m. to return with their ID.

On the horizon, there are also a number of local elections that people are looking toward in 2014.

* An unofficial short list, so far, for the August 2014 local elections are:

Dyersburg City Judge

Dyer County Circuit Judge

Dyer County Chancellor

Dyer County General Sessions Court Judge

Dyer County District Attorney

Dyer County Public Defender

Dyer County Mayor

Dyer County Circuit Court Clerk

Dyer County Trustee

Dyer County Sheriff

Dyer County Clerk

Dyer County Register of Deeds

Dyer County Superintendent of Roads

Dyer County School Board (Districts A, B, C, E, G, and I)

Dyer County Commissioners (20 positions)

Dyer County Constables (10 positions)

Dyersburg City School Board (At-Large Position 2 and Wards 2 and 4)

* An unofficial short list, so far, for the November 2014 local elections are:

Dyersburg Mayor

Dyersburg Aldermen (3 At-Large position and 5 ward positions)

Newbern Aldermen (3 positions)

Trimble Mayor

Trimble Aldermen (5 positions)