From left, candidate Bert Bosse, Linda Hirsch, Williamson County Election Commission chairman Bob Brown and Rachel Waterhouse.

Updated 4:30 p.m.
Brentwood Home Page news reports
Turnout in today's Brentwood City Commission election has picked up this afternoon as the skies have begun clearing. This morning's rainy weather, however, kept voters away from the polls early in the day.

Only around 70 had voted by mid-lunchtime at the Otter Creek Church of Christ, the city's largest precinct, and New Hope Community Church locations. At 3:45 p.m. a total of 118 voters had completed ballots at New Hope. At 4:45 p.m., the number of voters at Otter Creek just topped 200, still far below 2009 figures.

A total of 1,900 had cast early ballots city-wide during the early voting period that ended Thursday.

Polls are open until 7 p.m. today as six candidates are running for four seats on the seven-person Brentwood City Commission. The ballot includes Bert Bosse, Jill Burgin, Mayor Betsy Crossley, fellow incumbent Anne Dunn, Rod Freeman and Brenda Lehman.   

The candidates have been making the rounds of precincts, crisscrossing the city to shake as many hands as possible. Mayor Betsy Crossley's day included making a speech at the Brentwood Womans Club's annual awards luncheon. She apologized there for her campaign T-shirt and running shoes but said she had been out since 5:30 a.m. and would be on the trail until late afternoon.

Bert Bosse, at Otter Creek Church in the early afternoon, said he had already been to six other precincts.

At approximately 1p.m., only 22 voters had participated at Holy Family Catholic Church. One of those was Lori Pearce. She suggested turnout could be increased -- and the city could save money -- by holding the city election in conjuction with a general election.

That thought was echoed at Otter Creek by Rod Brown, chairman of the county's Election Commission.

At the Community Church on Wilson Pike, less than 30 people had voted by early afternoon.

“City can save money by holding at a general election. Brentwood is a great city and much money is needed for our schools.”

12:45 p.m. Curry Ingram Academy, Murray Lane: 37 voters according to Walter Murphy.

12:35 p.m., New Hope Community Church, 605 Wilson Pike: The number voting Tuesday had reached only 66 by mid-day, said registrar Gayle Hall. "I don't think we'll get 10 percent" of the 26,000 registered voters in the city, she said. 

The precinct is usually hopping during presidential elections and state primaries. No one had showed up by 7:15 a.m. and two early numbers were voided when voters showed up at the wrong site.

Freeman was outside checking on his poll worker and musing whether someone could "turn off the faucet." He was hoping more people would show up around the end of the work day after 4 p.m. or so.

Voter Callie Victory said she would like the city election to be paired with other state or national races.

"I think sometimes when it's just for one thing, people don't think it's important -- and it is important," Victory said.

Victory, a longtime Williamson County resident, said she had moved to Brentwood a year ago in part because of the city's bigger-lot sizes. She thought overcrowding and the numbers of kids in school are issues for Brentwood.

"I think the other thing is about where people are building," she said. "A lot of people want to have vast amounts of space -- there's only so much room. It'll be interesting to see where that goes this year."

12:20 p.m., Otter Creek Church of Christ, Franklin Road: Keith Loftis, officer of election, said that 72 had voted at the site by lunchtime. "It's the worst I've ever seen," he said.  

Mary Williams, who said "growth and how to handle it" is Brentwood's biggest issue, said she also would prefer the municipal election not be scheduled by itself.

"It's very hard to remember. If I hadn't been out and seen the signs 'Oh, yeah, it's today,' I would have forgotten," she said.

Williams said she was voting for only Freeman, who was a member of her church and she trusted his opinions. "Last time he didn't win by that much so I'm just going to vote for him and not vote for other people because I'm not well-versed" on other candidates, she said.

12:15 p.m., Brentwood Library, Concord Road: 56 people had cast their votes here during the first 5-plus hours of Election Day. Bob and Jan Vandiver, the poll supervisors, say most voters came in early, and they expect turnout to reach 100. 

 9:28 a.m., Brentwood Safety Center East, Sunset: Larry Mullins, a certified public account, was only the fourth person to show up at vote at the site 2 1/2 hours into election day.

Wanda Graham, officer of election, said the first voter didn't show up at the precinct until 45 minutes after the polls opened at 7 a.m. There were 123 early voters from the precinct which has 3,400 registered voters, with most if not all living in the city limits, she said.

Mullins, a certified public accountant, said holding the city election with statewide or national balloting should cost less money and increase turnout.

"I don't think right now we have any real issues in Brentwood, other than maybe too many incumbents," he said.

Mullins said he voted for all four of the "new people" -- Bosse, Burgin, Freeman and Lehman. He said one reason was that he didn't live in a subdivision and he didn't think the incumbents "care about you unless you live in a subdivision and have a homeowners association speak up for you."

Election worker Ron Young said he thought early turnout was affected by weather, especially since he had no power between 4:30 a.m.-6:30 a.m. at his Courtside home a mile away. "I woke up and heard things chirping since my smoke alarms are hard-wired."

9:15 a.m., Concord Community Church of the Nazarene:  Karen Vernon, officer of election, said there was a "whopping" number of 12 who had voted the first couple of hours and that included three workers.

The early voting total from the precinct was 94, and about 3,000 voted in the presidential election -- although a number of those voters aren't eligible for the Brentwood city election.

"People don't turn out for local elections," Vernon said.

"They'll turn out if we have a tax one," noted election worker Delores Johnson.

Vernon recalled that the first time she worked an election several years ago only 85 voted all day for school board members. "The next time was about taxes and hundreds of people voted."\

BHP correspondents Carol Stuart and Wendy Hosse contributed to this report.