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Actual Vote in Tennessee

Varies by county

Information current as of October 2026

This page explains how to use the Actual Vote app in Tennessee for the next election. New to Actual Vote? Start here to learn what it is and why it matters.

Whether a poll tape is posted in Tennessee depends on your county's voting equipment. In the roughly 46 counties using MicroVote voting machines, a state rule with the force of law requires the third results tape from each machine to be posted on the wall of the polling place (Rule 1360-02-13-.22). But counties using ballot scanners — including Shelby (Memphis), Davidson (Nashville), Knox (Knoxville), and Hamilton (Chattanooga) — are expressly exempt from posting (Rule 1360-02-12-.10(4)). In every county, the results must be publicly announced at closing (T.C.A. § 2-7-130).

Your participation is powerful: you join a nationwide team whose recordings get compared, tape-by-tape, against the officially reported results — an independent check on vote reporting, which is vulnerable to error and fraud. We haven’t published an Actual Vote analysis from Tennessee yet, but see what a team achieved in the 2024 North Carolina primary. The process is legal and next-to-impossible to abuse for partisan gain: everything on a poll tape is already public.

Poll closing time in Tennessee: 7 p.m. Central / 8 p.m. Eastern. Anyone still in line at closing time is entitled to vote, so the closing procedure — and the tape — can run later.

Get the app How Actual Vote works See an example analysis

This information was compiled using AI-assisted internet research along with some calls to election offices and word-of-mouth tips. It reflects America Counts’s best knowledge of how to access poll tapes in Tennessee as of October 2026, but it cannot be guaranteed 100% accurate. The best way to be sure about accessing poll tapes in your area is to call your local elections office and ask — see below for ready-to-use scripts.

If your experience or knowledge of poll-tape procedure in Tennessee is different from what we show here, please contact us and let us know — we update these pages as we learn more.

Your ways to participate in Tennessee

See how the six ways to help compare →

  1. 1

    Record the posted tape where your county posts it

    Tennessee's rules vary by county. Where the tape is posted for the public, record it after polls close with the Actual Vote app — the summary above says where that applies. Elsewhere, use an elections office appointment or a records request.

    See a detailed example of how to make a plan to visit polling places on election night based in Broward County, Florida.

  2. 2

    Be there at the close or observe the count

    In every Tennessee county the results must be announced publicly at closing (T.C.A. § 2-7-130). In scanner counties such as Shelby, Davidson, Knox and Hamilton, where nothing is posted, be there at the close to hear the announced totals, and ask whether you may observe and video-record the tape.

  3. 3

    Record early-voting tapes

    Tennessee removes the vote totals from early-voting machines at a place and time the county election commission must give notice of to all candidates and political parties, and no candidate’s votes may be totaled until all polls in the county have closed (T.C.A. § 2-6-304(e)). The law doesn’t say whether the public may watch, so ask your county election commission when and where, and whether you may attend. Call your county elections office ahead of time and ask where and when the early-voting tapes will be printed, and whether you may observe and video-record them. If they don’t have a plan to show them, you can politely ask them to display the tapes.

    See a detailed example of recording early-voting tapes, based on Cobb County, Georgia.

  4. 4

    Become a poll worker or observer

    Working the polls or serving as an appointed observer puts you right at the source — the earliest point in the chain of custody, and the clearest view of the count and the tape.

    See more details about Actual Vote for poll workers or observers.

    Sign up to be a poll worker →

  5. 5

    Visit or book an appointment at your county elections office

    Election offices can often provide many precincts’ tapes at once — a great way to cover a whole county on your own schedule.

    Email/phone script — book an appointment at your Tennessee county elections office
    To: [your county] County elections office
    Re: Appointment to view and record precinct results tapes

    Hello, and thank you for your work. My name is [name]. My friends and I use Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — we video-record poll tapes and compare them to the official results as an independent double-check.

    We’d like to request an appointment to view and video-record the certified precinct results tapes (summary statements) from the [date] election — Election Day, absentee/by-mail, and early voting — for [all precincts / the following precincts: ____]. [Preferred date and window] would work, but we’re flexible and happy to follow any rules your office sets.

    Everything on these tapes is public records under the Tennessee Public Records Act (Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503), and already public, so all we’d need is the tapes and a place to work. Thank you for considering it. — [name], [contact]

    Offices are busiest right before certification — offering a flexible window (and to start with a few precincts) makes a yes easier. See the full worked example for more.

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

  6. 6

    File a public-records request for poll-tape images

    Poll tapes are public records under the Tennessee Public Records Act. You can request digital copies by precinct and voting method — available in every state, though it captures the tapes later in the chain of custody.

    Public-records request email — Tennessee precinct poll-tape scans
    To: [your county] County Election Commission
    Re: Public data request — [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election] results tapes, [your county] County

    Dear [County] County Election Commission,

    Under the Tennessee Public Records Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503, I'm requesting copies of public election data — specifically the precinct results tapes (also called "poll tapes" or "tabulator tapes") and the corresponding precinct summary statements printed by the county's voting equipment, meeting the following criteria:

    • From Tennessee's [election, e.g. November 5, 2024 General Election]
    • From all precincts in [your county] County
    • For each voting method that produced a tabulator tape — Election Day (in-person precinct), Absentee By-Mail, and In-Person Absentee / Early Voting. I understand mail and early-voting ballots are typically counted centrally rather than at the precinct, so for those methods I'm after the central-count tabulator tapes or summary statements
    • The tapes/statements showing candidate-by-candidate vote totals — I don't need the zero or configuration tapes, though including them is fine
    • If for any combination above no ballots were cast (so no tape was printed), simply omit it

    I understand that whether your county posts these tapes on the wall at closing depends on your voting equipment — MicroVote counties are required to post them, while ballot-scanner counties are exempt from posting — but the tape itself is a public record either way, so I'm requesting it regardless of which equipment your county uses.

    Digital scans (emailed or via a download link, in any common format such as .pdf or .jpg) would be ideal; physical copies for pickup or mail are also fine. These are public records, and the totals they show are already in the official published results. They'll be used for legitimate, non-partisan vote-reporting auditing with Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — you can see exactly how it works, and why it's non-partisan, at Start Here.

    If you must redact anything beyond precinct name, voting method, and results totals, please go ahead. If you deny any part of this request, please cite the specific exemption and let me know the appeal options under the law. Please also tell me of any fee in advance — I request a fee waiver, as this analysis is in the public interest, contributes to election transparency, and is not for any commercial purpose.

    Because our analysis is most useful before results are certified, I'd be grateful for the data within about a week if possible; if you expect a delay, just let me know when to expect it.

    Thank you for considering this request. — [name], [email/phone]

    See a detailed example of how to do this.

Past Actual Vote poll tape recordings in Tennessee

Here are some Actual Vote poll tape videos from previous elections by users in Tennessee. You can make your own in the next election!

America Counts compares the vote totals on each poll tape video to the official results to double-check the accuracy of the vote reporting. We did the comparison analysis with these and other videos from these elections and found all matches. We didn't publish a report at the time, but look for one soon.

Recordings live in the public Actual Vote Video Archive.

How we know this — and how you can check it

This reflects America Counts’s primary-source review of Tennessee’s election statutes and Secretary of State guidance, most recently updated in October 2026; the summary at the top of this page and the early-voting card link the provisions it relies on. Procedures can still vary locally, so the surest way to confirm what applies at your polling place or elections office is to call them directly. Found something different? Tell us and we’ll verify it and fix the page.

Find your county's election website

County sites carry polling locations and local contact information. Search "[your county], Tennessee elections" if a link 404s.

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