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By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal

Tennesseans went the polls in numbers that "shattered" early voting records for presidential primaries, while Shelby County bucked the statewide trend with Democrats' votes outnumbering Republicans'.

Across Tennessee, 385,653 people voted early in the presidential primaries, with 257,209 Republicans and 128,374 Democrats pulling ballots.

"That shattered the record that was set in 2008 of 329,154 voters," said Tre Hargett, Tennessee Secretary of State, during a news conference in Nashville.

In Shelby County 43,542 people — 17,145 Republicans and 26,397 Democrats — voted early. That compares with 27,278 early voters in 2008, the last presidential primary with no incumbent, data from the Shelby County Election Commission show.

Early voting ended Tuesday and the state's official primary election day is March 1.

Tennessee, one of the Super Tuesday states holding primaries next week, has been a big player in this year's presidential race, Hargett said. State officials are also expecting heavy turnout on Super Tuesday with potentially as many as 1.3 million total voters.

"Tuesday is going to be a big day no matter what and we know that there's a lot of interest in this election," Hargett said. "I think there are personalities in this race that may not have been what we've seen in previous presidential elections and I think people are very engaged and interested."

Local party leaders say that interest in the GOP primary, in particular, is driving up poll numbers.

"I think it still shows an energized Republican group going out to choose our candidate," said Mary Wagner, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Shelby County.

Wagner said she isn't bothered that Republican voters were fewer in number in Shelby County. Statewide numbers show that Tennessee is still a red state.

"That doesn't shock me," Wagner said. "Shelby County is thought of across the state as a Democrat stronghold, although I like to think otherwise."

On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are running with significantly less "rancor" than Republican primary candidates, which is contributing to GOP turnout, said Randa Spears, chairwoman of the Shelby County Democratic Party.

"I think there's more attention being paid to the Republicans right now in this phase just because of the intensity of the competition of that primary," Spears said.

Hargett said more candidates are visiting Tennessee this election cycle thanks to where the state's primaries now fall on the elections calendar.

Earlier this month, former president Bill Clinton stumped for his wife, Hillary, at Whitehaven High School.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich will make a Memphis stop Friday, GOP front-runner and real estate mogul Donald Trump is scheduled to appear at a rally in Millington on Saturday and Dr. Ben Carson will visit a Memphis church on Sunday.

The presidential candidates are not the only races, however.

Also on the local ballot is the primary race for General Sessions court clerk, with Republican Richard Morton and Democrat William Stovall challenging incumbent Democrat Ed Stanton Jr. Republican voters will also choose among 432 party delegates.

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