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When Tennessee held its plebiscite to leave the Union, the majority ruled. The statewide vote was 2:1 in favor.

On February 8, 1861, the first time Tennessee voted, the state voted 70,156 to 39,317 to remain in the Union. But in May, Governor Harris and his cohorts in the state legislature ignored the expressed will of the people and seceded. The politicians aligned themselves with the Confederacy and invited the Rebel armies to overrun the state. An election was held on June 27th to rubber stamp the actions of the politicians. East Tennessee still voted overwhelmingly to stay in the Union, but the state as a whole voted for separation. But given the presence of Confederate armies and widespread intimidation of Unionists, the legitimacy of this election was questioned by many. As the Louisville Journal commented on May 13th during the run up to the election:

"The spirit of secession appears to have reached its culminating point in Tennessee. Certainly the fell spirit has, at yet, reached no higher point of outrageous tyranny. The whole of the late proceedings in Tennessee has been as gross an outrage as ever was perpetrated by the worst tyrant of all the earth. The whole secession movement on the part of the Legislature of the State has been lawless, violent and tumultuous. The pretense of submitting the Ordinance of Secession to the vote of the people of the State after placing her military power and resources at the disposal and under the command of the Confederate States without any authority from the people, is as bitter and insolent a mockery of popular rights as the human mind could invent."

Given the behavior of Harris and his Confederate sympathizing politicians, I can understand why the people of East Tennessee would fear a lawless tyranny based in Richmond more than any possible tyranny from Washington.

On February 8, 1861, the first time Tennessee voted, the state voted 70,156 to 39,317 to remain in the Union.

That wasn't a vote on secession, but rather a vote to call a secession convention. Several statistical studies have been done on Tennessee in 1861 that show a dramatic shift in public opinion toward secession following Lincoln's call for an army in April after Fort Sumter. The Tennessee legislature voted in response to bypass a secession convention and put the issue of secession to an up/down referendum vote of the public. That vote passed by 2 to 1 margins of 104,913 to 47,238.

But given the presence of Confederate armies and widespread intimidation of Unionists, the legitimacy of this election was questioned by many.

That's a load of garbage. If so many voters were "intimidated" to stay home in the June secession referendum why did 50,000 more people participate in it than in the February 8th vote you seem to accept as legitimate? Heck, more people voted in the June 1861 Tennessee secession referendum than in the state's November 1860 presidential election!