OK, county residents, here’s your chance to vote in a city election – maybe
Knox County residents who live outside the city limits need not show up at a polling place hoping to cast a ballot in the City Council election Tuesday – not even if they own property inside the city.
The old practice of being allowed to vote in city elections on “property rights” (or “property-qualified voting”) still exists, but the process isn’t as free and easy as it was in the old days when a group of politicos would pitch in together, buy a small lot and get to cast enough votes to flip a district.
Nowadays, as per election administrator Cliff Rodgers, property owners who live outside the city may be qualified to vote, if their property is of sufficient size, but they must vote by mail and apply for a paper ballot before election day. There’s a two-vote-per-lot limit.