How did Sullivan, Hawkins voters compare to the rest of the state?

Nov. 3 election results in Sullivan and Hawkins counties — which are still unofficial, to be certified mid-November — trended toward conservative candidates, as compared to the rest of the state. Across Tennessee, GOP Gov.-elect Marsha Blackburn won with 45.5% of the vote. Fellow gubernatorial candidates Democrat Jerri Green and independent David Hatley followed with almost 43% and about 9% of the vote, respectively. Blackburn and Hatley proved more popular, however, in Sullivan and Hawkins counties. In Sullivan, Blackburn earned about 55% of the vote; in Hawkins, it was 61.5%. Hatley received almost 16% of Sullivan's vote, and nearly 17% of Hawkins'. In several Hawkins precincts, Hatley outperformed Green. Green, conversely, lagged with 28% in Sullivan and 20% in Hawkins. In the U.S. Senate race, Republican Bill Hagerty defended his seat with 55% of the vote statewide. He exceeded that locally, with 69% of Sullivan's vote and almost 77% of Hawkins'. The U.S. House of Representatives race for District 1 is where Sullivan and Hawkins differed. Across the district's 12 counties, GOP incumbent Diana Harshbarger earned 67% of the vote. Democratic challenger Kristi Burke earned 29%. In Hawkins, the gap was wider: almost 74% to Harshbarger and 22% to Burke. But Sullivan saw the opposite. About 64.5% of the vote went to Harshbarger and nearly 32% to Burke. All three constitutional amendments passed, although they were a little more popular in Sullivan — and Hawkins, less so — than statewide. TURNOUT In Sullivan County, about 43% of registered voters cast ballots this past Election Day, while Hawkins saw a 39.7% turnout. In both counties, early voting accounted for a little over half of the total votes cast. That, however, didn't stop long lines forming at some Sullivan County polls — particularly the Civic Auditorium in Kingsport, Indian Springs Elementary east of Kingsport and the Rocky Mount Historic Site in Piney Flats near Johnson City. Administrator of Elections Jason Booher said the lines were caused by surges of voters at those larger precincts and the length of the ballot. Additionally, votes in Sullivan elections are cast on paper ballots, which are printed for each voter and then scanned into the system. The full ballot took about 42 seconds or slightly longer to print across all polling places, depending on what is on them, because the ballots were four pages instead of the normal one or two in a mid-term election. Booher said the constitutional amendments on the ballot likely increased the printing time. Sullivan uses paper ballots, Booher said, because election officials and voters want a "verified paper audit trail" with no digital record or way to hack ballots online. He said said using voting machines, rather than paper ballots read by an optical scanner, would not have helped long lines because there'd still be a limited number of machines. Additional scanners can go out during Election Day as needs arise, but he said there's not enough money to buy enough for two in all 25 polling places.