If you are not yet registered to vote and intend to vote in the November 6 General Election, today, Tuesday, Oct. 9. is your last chance to get signed up.

Kerry Steelman, the Hamilton County Administrator of Elections, said the most convenient way to register to vote is through the state’s voter registration Website.

“It is so easy,” Steelman said in a telephone conversation with East Ridge News Online earlier today. “The GovTn Website has everything you need. You can find polling places and polling places for early voting.

“If your signature is on file with the Tennessee Department of Safety you can do it.”

If you do not have a Tennessee driver license you can register to vote at the Hamilton County Election Commission’s  offices on Amnicola Highway. The commission offices close at 4 p.m. today.

Early voting for the Nov. 6 General Election begins on October 17 and runs through November 1.

The East Ridge Municipal Election is on the ballot, as well as the race for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and the State House of Representatives. Here’s a link to the sample ballots.

Steelman said that he expects an extremely large turnout in this midterm election and he “strongly encourages” people to take advantage of the early voting period.

“This is going to be a big election,” Steelman said. “It would be an anomaly.”

For readers who like to look at statistics, the last midterm election in 2014, 4,700 voters out of 12,732 registered cast a ballot. That amounts to about 37 percent. In the last Presidential Election in 2016, 7,873 voters out of 11.232 registered cast a ballot. The 70 percent voter turnout in East Ridge mirrored the 73 percent voter turnout county-wide.

According to USA Today, Tennessee ranks 40th in voter registration and last of the 50 states in voter turnout.