Get out early to pick Rick

Just in case you live in Tennessee and you might have forgotten, you don't have to wait until March 6th to cast your vote, you can vote early until February 28th-that's this Tuesday. All 95 counties allow registered voters in those counties to cast their ballots early at your county election commission office. In addition, many counties have opened other satellite locations where voters can come and participate in the early voting process. In counties such as Knox, Hamilton, Johnson, Sullivan, Davidson, and Shelby, there are several early voting locations to choose from, and many of our suburban and rural counties have also adopted an early voting program that encompasses more than one early voting site.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Election Administrator Mark Goins say they are encouraging early voting this year, and they invite Tennesseans to contact their county election offices to find out where to cast their votes early. You won't want to forget that photo ID as part of Tennessee's new voter identification law, and remember that if you don't drive, even if your ID card is expired so long as it is a Tennessee-issued identification with your picture, you are good to cast your vote, whether early or on Primary Day itself.

Yesterday we talked about a couple of important and fun straw polls that Rick's supporters could participate in. Straw polls are extremely enjoyable and sometimes they can even be politically important, but no poll is more important than the one that really counts, and thanks to the sacrifice of so many of our veterans and men and women still in uniform, that poll is absolutely free-all you need to do is show up-and if you can't do that, you can even vote absentee.

If you are familiar with Tennessee politics, you know that since early voting has been introduced here, it has been a real factor in our electoral process. I've seen elections decided on the early votes alone, and we've seen some of our news media able to successfully call elections based on the return of the early vote, which in most counties in Tennessee are always the first votes to be counted. If you vote early in this Presidential Primary, your votes could help show us quickly who the delegates go to on Primary Night.

I've already picked Rick! You can too, if you haven't already-find out where to go tomorrow (Saturday), Monday, or Tuesday by contacting your county election commission. If you can't vote early, remember to pick Rick Santorum at your local precinct on March 6th.