Voting in Chattanooga underway for mayor, city council

Mar. 2—The polls are open in Chattanooga, and voter turnout seems to be right on par with what was anticipated, local election officials say.

Downtown at the Dogwood Manor in District 7, Yvonne Brewster said she was looking forward to voting for a mayor the city can trust.

"I just want to see someone continue to build the city as a leader," Brewster said. "We need some honest leaders and someone who cares about the people. I liked the work Andy Berke did. I think he did a good job considering the circumstances he had to deal with."

Brewster said she trusts the integrity of Tennessee elections and scoffed at the idea that there was widespread voter fraud in the November election. She chalked it up to people wanting to stir the pot.

"We need unity," she said.

Jerry Miller said he hopes to have a qualified candidate in every city council seat and someone that could bring new ideas as mayor to help the underserved in the community.

"I'd like someone who cares about the homeless population," Miller said. "Someone who focuses on something like affordable housing."

Wanda Hayes still has some concerns following the November election.

"Like you've seen, even when we vote like we do, things don't normally go our way," Hayes said.

Hayes said she thinks some of that will even happen at the local level, but trusts in the system and things will work out how they should in the end.

Scott Allen, administrator of elections for Hamilton County, said Tuesday morning that things were moving along well and that "no news is good news."

"So far turnout is what we expected," Allen said. "We're expecting between 12,000 and 14,000 voters, which would be about 20 percent turnout. There's nothing we're seeing right now that would have us believe it would be less or more than that."

Allen said it's been nice on the poll workers to have a much quieter day compared to November.

"It's a totally different atmosphere," he said.

Allen did confirm one complaint that came through about a poll worker wearing a "Thin Blue Line" T-shirt. Allen said poll workers are told not to wear campaign gear or any other piece of clothing that might suggest support of one agenda over another but believes this one instance was an honest mistake. Allen said his office is looking into the complaint.

This is a developing story as news unfolds on Election Day.