Young voters in Tennessee have turned out in much larger numbers than at this point in the last midterm election.
An analysis by the political data group TargetSmart shows that 98,000 people age 18 to 29 have voted early in the state, compared to 12,800 in 2014 — a more than seven-fold increase. The data includes early voters and absentee voters, as of Nov. 1.
Tennessee, one of the states with the lowest historic voter turnout, has been the subject this year of targeted get-out-the-vote efforts.
Perhaps one of the highest-profile calls to vote came from 28-year-old superstar Taylor Swift, who endorsed Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen in his Senate bid against Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn.
At a rally in Chattanooga on Sunday for Blackburn, President Donald Trump also encouraged voters not to take anything for granted Tuesday and show up to vote.
But the reason for the boost in young voters is hard to pinpoint, experts said. This election is the first competitive statewide contest since 2006, and there has been more youth political activism following mass shootings. Also, Washington's turmoil has animated some voters.
The U.S. Senate campaign between Blackburn and Bredesen has become the most expensive in state history and the campaigns have also aggressively worked on get-out-the-vote efforts.
"The presence of two interesting statewide elections makes it a little hard to know whether the turnout increase is because of compelling statewide races or because of a desire to send a message in support of, or in opposition to, President Trump and the events of the last two years," Vanderbilt political science professor Joshua Clinton said by email.
Nationally, nearly 3 million voters age 18 to 29 have voted early or absentee, compared to about 1 million in 2014, the voter data shows.
TargetSmart is a Democratic data firm. Its early voting data is based on information provided by the Tennessee Secretary of State.
While the 18- to 29-year-old age group saw a large boost in numbers, it still makes up just 7 percent of the early and absentee voters so far in Tennessee.
The other age groups also saw a boost. There were more than three times as many early and absentee voters age 30 and older in Tennessee, compared to the same time in 2014.