3 Memphis City Council races to go to runoff on Nov. 16

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - There were 13 city council seats on the ballot for the 2023 Memphis Municipal Election. All races have clear winners except three, which will have to go to runoff.

Those seats include District 2, 3 and 7.

The leading candidate in those races did not receive a majority of the votes (over 50%), so the top two candidates will be in a runoff.

Earlier Friday, Action News 5′s Amanda Hanson spoke with former Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer about the importance of going back out to the polls for these runoffs.

“Runoffs, historically, see almost a 50 to 75% drop in voter turnout, because you put off all this energy in the election and then the runoff comes and people are tired,” she said. “So we are looking at 75% drop of a, what was turnout total, less than 30% turnout. So voter turnout will be low for these city council runoffs.”

The runoff for the three City Council seats is set for Thursday, November 16.

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