Republican Senate contender Dr. Manny Sethi and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas portrayed rival candidate Bill Hagerty as a political insider despite having President Donald Trump’s endorsement. 

The early voting period ended Saturday afternoon and includes a larger than usual absentee ballot count. Election day is Thursday with polling places open until 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the hard-fought statewide Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate is being seen by partisans on both sides of the close race as about the conservative movement in the state.

On "Behind The Headlines," Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips says some upgraded digital scanners that are part of the new system will be used in the August vote count and again in November. She expects the November presidential general election Shelby County to be a record-setter in terms of turnout.

The state's highest court heard the state's appeal of the recent expansion of mail-in absentee voting ordered last month by a Nashville Chancery Court. The state says absentee ballots are a privilege and not a right. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that in the current pandemic, in-person voting is a choice for voters between their health and their right to vote.

The first challengers have emerged for alderman and Board of Education seats in Bartlett’s fall elections, as Kevin Quinn and Bradford Ratliff filed petitions with the Shelby County Election Commission.

By the 4:30 p.m. Thursday deadline to apply, the Shelby County Election Commission could process 20,000 requests for mail-in ballots that could be a major factor in the August elections.

Through seven Congressional campaigns, incumbent 9th District Democrat Steve Cohen has posted some impressive percentages in the primary that counts in the majority Democratic district within Shelby County.

The Congressman faces former Shelby County Democratic Party chairman Corey Strong in the Aug. 6 primary. Strong is critical of Cohen’s style; Cohen says Strong and past challengers don’t understand the job.

Statewide races in Tennessee are daunting tasks requiring millions of dollars to credibly campaign in a state with 95 counties and two time zones. Here are the major contenders by those fundraising standards and the other contenders in each primary.

The Nashville attorney is back two years after bowing out of another Senate bid. This time, James Mackler says his campaign will be “laser focused.”

The three-way race is a skirmish between two to show who is closer to President Donald Trump and a different strategy by a third candidate, seen before in the 2018 GOP primary for Tennessee governor.

Collierville's Board of Mayor and Aldermen declared an aldermanic vacancy Monday. The action was taken following the death of Tom Allen, who died last week.

Officials hope to process absentee voting applications the same day they arrive up to Thursday's deadline to apply. Meanwhile, in-person early voting continues through Saturday, Aug. 1, at 26 locations. Election day is Aug. 6.

Shelby County posted the second highest county total for the state through the first six days of early voting. Davidson County, including Nashville, has the highest turnout and, at least for now, is the bluest county in terms of early voters' choices of primaries. Of the state's 95 counties, 92 show Republican majorities in their turnout.

The turnout totals from the Shelby County Election Commission also show the first indications of a massive absentee voter turnout as election officials expect to catch up to a backlog of absentee applications by Friday.

So far, the return by voters of the unusually high number of the mail-in ballots hasn't shown up in the early voting turnout figures. Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips told county commissioners Wednesday, July 22, that some absentee voters may not complete their ballots because they are expecting to see the presidential general election that is on the November ballot.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot is July 30, so more ballot requests are on the way. Meanwhile, a total of 12,314 Shelby County voters have cast their ballots -- absentee and through in-person early voting -- in the first three days of the period that runs through Aug. 1. Election day is Aug. 6. 

Early voting across Shelby County in advance of the Aug. 6 election date resumes Monday, July 20, after the first two days drew nearly 8,000 voters.

The Democratic primary is wide open for the state House District 90 race with veteran state Rep. John DeBerry removed from the Democratic ballot.

The race pits state Rep. Tom Leatherwood, who his says his experience is needed to help steer Tennessee, against challenger Lee Mills, a former Republican Party chairman who calls his opponent a “career politician.”

During the half-hour online event Friday evening, Trump called Tennessee's Republican Senate primary "a real primary" -- an apparent reference to the tightening race between the former U.S. ambassador to Japan and Dr. Manny Sethi of Nashville.

Mauricio Calvo’s withdrawal accented the opening day of early voting in Memphis. Preliminary numbers show more than 5,000 people voted early Friday. In getting out of the District 5 school board race, Calvo cited his duties as executive director of Latino Memphis and the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on Latino Memphians. 

Here are the basics you need to know in order to vote early and make sure your ballot has all of the races it is supposed to have, including district races.

More than 13,000 Shelby Countians had requested absentee ballots through Wednesday.