How to verify election information

Decisions versus descriptions

Election information travels through a lot of hands: campaigns, news, social media, voter-education sites like this one. That is fine — as long as you know who decides each fact and who is only describing it.

The rule is simple. For anything that matters, go to the source that decides it.

Where to check what

• Dates and deadlines — the Tennessee Secretary of State and your county election commission set these.
• Your ballot — the official sample ballot from your county election commission.
• Your district — the official district lookup for federal, state, and local offices.
• Registration status — GoVoteTN.

Two useful habits

1. When you see a claim about a date, a deadline, or an eligibility rule, ask: "who decides this?" Then look it up on their site.
2. Save your county election commission's website in your phone. Most election questions can be answered there in under a minute.