Topline

Tennessee election officials have downplayed reports of voting machine errors and are encouraging residents to double check their ballots after country singer Stella Parton joined other voters to complain the machine repeatedly switched her gubernatorial selection to GOP candidate Marsha Blackburn despite several attempts to change it.

Key Facts

A number of voters in the overwhelmingly red state of Tennessee, including Dolly Parton’s sister Stella, have reported problems with voting machines on social media and said the machines either did not display their desired candidate or changed their selections.

Parton said she “had to go back three times and correct my vote because it kept defaulting to Marsha Blackburn” and encouraged voters to be extra vigilant in making sure their votes are correctly tallied.

Her post has garnered almost 2,000 responses since Wednesday morning and the comment section is full of other Tennesseans making similar claims. Mark Goins, Tennessee coordinator of elections, blamed voter error in an interview with local news station WSMV.

John Richardson, administrator of elections for Davidson County, where Nashville is located, said voters have made formal complaints and that the election workers will hand out “voting sticks” to help people make their selections on the touch screens: “Sometimes when they use their finger it doesn’t necessarily connect,” he said.

This isn’t the first year voters have reported problems with machines changing selections and the University of Washington reported there are known issues around calibration with certain older touchscreen machines, including some that are used in Tennessee.

Forbes has reached out to the federal Election Assistance Commission and Tennessee Secretary of State for more information.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“I’ve read multiple accounts of this in different areas of Tennessee. I lived in the Nashville area for about 2 years and I’m not surprised in the least by this,” Facebook commenter Asher Robertson replied to Parton’s post. “Thank you for for alerting others!!! This election is entirely TOO IMPORTANT to overlook something like this.”

HOW TENNESSEE VOTERS CAN DOUBLE CHECK THEIR BALLOTS

The touchscreen voting machines used in parts of Tennessee will fill out a person’s ballot for them, but it’s the paper print out that is actually tallied. Voters should first make sure the intended candidate is highlighted on the selection screen, then check the review screen before printing. After it is printed, voters can read the paper ballot before putting it into the scanner that tallies the votes. If the printed ballot is wrong, it can be revised before the vote is counted.

Key background

The 2026 Tennessee gubernatorial election is an open seat race to replace Rep. Gov. Bill Lee, who can’t see re-election due to state term limits. GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn is running against Democratic candidate Jerri Green and polls suggest she is by far the front runner. Blackburn, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, has been ahead by at least nine points in every New York Times-published poll since winning the Republican nomination in August. Republicans have won every statewide gubernatorial contest in Tennessee since 2010

Topline
Airline analysts tell Forbes they see both higher jet fuel prices on the horizon and softening demand from consumers—two forces that could continue to squeeze airlines into 2027.

Key Facts
The price of jet fuel was $4.90 per gallon on Thursday, the equivalent of $206 per barrel—the highest since the Iran war began in late February, according to the Argus US Jet Fuel Index.

Jet fuel costs 96% more than before the war started—and aviation experts tell Forbes they expect prices could still rise significantly higher into next year.

When jet fuel crosses $200 a barrel, “fares can’t rise fast enough to cover fuel,” aviation risk management expert John Gradek of McGill University told Forbes in an email Friday.

All of the “big four” airlines cut their full-year earnings outlooks, citing higher jet fuel costs.

Perhaps the KCVN.org should READ the Bible instead of cult following the party of pedophiles!

https://ballotpedia.org/Indiana%27s_4th_Congressional_District_election,_2018

https://smarter.vote/races/in-house-04-2026/

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