ELECTIONS

Justin Timberlake comes home to Memphis to vote in presidential election

Jody Callahan
jody.callahan@commercialappeal.com

So Justin Timberlake lives in California and recently bought a spread near Nashville, but it appears he's still registered to vote in Memphis.

Suzanne Jones and Justin Timberlake

The famous singer/actor/Punk'd victim posted an Instagram photo to his 37.1 million followers showing that he'd flown in from California just to vote. The selfie showed Timberlake casting his ballot at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Germantown (even though snapping a selfie at a polling place is technically illegal after a 2015 vote by the state legislature banning the practice).

"I just flew from LA to Memphis to #rockthevote!!!" Timberlake wrote.

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Although Timberlake hasn't really lived in Memphis for years, he apparently wasn't committing an infraction by casting a ballot here, Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Robert Meyers said Monday night. The rules on where someone can maintain residency to vote are vague, Meyers said, and are largely based on where someone intends to permanently reside. Mostly, those rules are in place to prevent people from voting more than once in multiple locations, with the possible exception of municipal races in one and federal elections in another.

Soon after Timberlake's post, Suzanne Jones, a candidate running for the Germantown school board, posted her own photo on Facebook. She apparently ran into the pop star outside the polling place a little after 5:30 p.m. and persuaded him to pose for a photo. So did another candidate for the school board, Mindy Fischer.

"You never know who you will see at the Polls! Justin Timberlake!!" Jones wrote.

Justin Timberlake, Mindy Fischer

He looks a little bewildered. Jones looks thrilled.

"As soon as he walked out, people started taking pictures and we could see that it was him," said Jones, who had been at New Bethel all day as a candidate. "I said, 'I know you’ve done it a lot, but I’d appreciate a picture with you.' Someone was going to take it for me. But he said, 'No, I can take it. I do have gorilla arms, since I do this a lot.' "

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