Tens of thousands of Tennesseans are still without power, officials said, including polling places where voters were set to cast their ballots. Polls are scheduled to close statewide at 8 p.m. eastern time.

“We’ve actually deployed generators to polling places that are reporting that they don’t have power,” said Lee, a Republican. “So, of course we want people to exercise caution in areas like downtown Nashville where there’s damage in the streets and that sort of thing. But we also want folks to exercise their rights to get out there and vote. It’s a very important day for that. So, we’re going to make it possible for as many folks as we can to vote — and wherever we find a polling station that there’s a problem, we’re reaching out to correct that.”

Nashville Mayor John Cooper, a Democrat and brother of Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), said out of the city’s 169 precincts, 15 polling places are diverting voters to alternate locations.

The line of storms struck Nashville shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday and pushed east during the overnight hours. Investigators from the National Weather Service will fan out across the state on Tuesday, inspecting damage to determine the severity of the tornadoes.

Tennessee may not be the only state where voting is disrupted by severe weather. A southern branch of the same system that brought the tornadoes to Tennessee is pushing across parts of Alabama, another Super Tuesday state. Parts of Eastern Alabama remain under a Tornado Watch — which means severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are possible — until noon.

Elsewhere, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said thunderstorms are possible in Virginia and North Carolina this afternoon and evening that could produce wind damage or a possible tornado. And in central Texas, severe storms that could cause large hail, damaging winds and a tornado are possible, mainly this evening.

There’s also a risk of flash flooding in parts of Texas and central Alabama on Tuesday, according to the Weather Prediction Center in Silver Spring, Md.

Tuesday isn’t the first time severe weather has struck on Super Tuesday — the biggest day on the quadrennial primary calendar. On Feb. 5, 2008, when two dozen states and territories held primaries and caucuses, 57 people were killed in a massive wave of at least 86 tornadoes in 10 different states. The event is known among meteorologists as the “Super Tuesday tornado outbreak.”