A record voter turnout is being predicted nationwide for tomorrow’s general election.
If the preceding two-week period of early voting in Tennessee’s seven northeast counties is any indication of the turnout, there may indeed be new voting records set.
There are 275,000 registered voters in the seven Northeast counties, and according to information released by the State Election Commission, last Friday afternoon, 81,000 of these people voted early.
When voters go to the polls tomorrow they will be a part of that political system called democracy.
Last week, the East Tennessean conducted its final poll, asking 1 percent of the total student population (12,111) to cast their vote for president of the United States.
These students were given a ballot with three candidates from which to choose. Those three were: George W. Bush, John F. Kerry and Ralph Nader. Other was also listed as a choice, but received no votes.
Of the 121 ballots distributed, three were returned without any candidate being selected.
The following are the results of those remaining 118 ballots.
Republican incumbent George W. Bush garnered 55.1 percent of the vote, while 42.4 percent of ballots were cast for Democratic candidate John F. Kerry. Independent candidate Ralph Nader accounted for 2.5 percent of the votes.
Will this straw poll be an indicator for the way the nation votes tomorrow, or will the opposite happen?
The nation will know Wednesday.

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