Politics

Debate about community benefits agreements, the sometimes-controversial negotiating tool with the potential to hold up developments, hangs over two major proposals for East Nashville.

Driving the news: Metro Council is set to decide the fate of a rezoning proposal for the Riverchase apartment complex. The plan, which is on tonight's council agenda, calls for 1,150 units including 225 affordable housing units.

Just as Mayor John Cooper settles in for a political rock fight over a proposed $2.1 billion stadium for the Titans, his administration is speeding ahead with plans to renovate the historic fairgrounds racetrack.

Why it matters: Cooper is pitching a partnership with Bristol Motor Speedway and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. to transform the 118-year-old track into a multipurpose entertainment complex that will bring NASCAR back to Music City.

Ryan Millager is one of more than 430 early voters in Nashville who received a faulty ballot with one of the wrong races.

• He was one of 117 of the affected voters to cast a new provisional ballot on Tuesday, per Davidson County Election Commission administrator Jeff Roberts.

The intrigue: Millager, who is married to Axios space reporter Miriam Kramer, tells us that friends started calling soon after the election commission published a public list of voters who were affected by the mixup.

What he's saying: Millager says he was eager to cast a special provisional ballot at the election commission office Tuesday even though it came with "a lot of inconveniences" he hoped to avoid by voting early.

• "Mistakes happen," he says. "I'm glad we have a way to correct that mistake."

Even so, he calls the experience "disheartening," especially given the relatively low early voting turnout reported in Tennessee.

• "You're already dealing with a low number, and then here we are further frustrating the process."

Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles won the District 5 U.S. House race Tuesday, bringing to fruition Republicans' plan to flip the seat Democrats have held since the Civil War era.

Driving the news: In addition to Ogles' 56% to 42% victory over state Sen. Heidi Campbell, District 7 U.S. Rep. Mark Green and District 6 U.S. Rep. John Rose cruised to re-election.

Tuesday is Election Day. Polls are open 7am-7pm.

The newly reconfigured U.S. House districts make Democrats the decided underdogs to represent Nashville in Congress, but it will be telling to see how close the margins are in the three races.

Ballot mixups first reported last week in Nashville have taken place in two other Tennessee counties, with some voters assigned to the wrong districts.

• A Nashville lawmaker is calling for a full 95-county investigation to determine if voters in other areas are getting ballots with misassigned races.

Metro Council members grilled a city consultant Monday over its assessment of the cost to maintain and renovate Nissan Stadium.

Driving the news: As the city considers a plan to build a $2.1 billion indoor stadium for the Titans, council members want a comparable price tag for the cost of renovating Nissan Stadium instead.

Election Day is Nov. 8. Early voting takes place Oct. 19-Nov. 3.

• In Nashville, polls open at 8am at the Howard Office Building downtown.
• Voting will expand to additional locations next week.