According to this story, published August 22, Tennessee state election officials will consider whether to start listing Republican nominees first on the general election ballots.

Ever since Tennessee has used government-printed ballots, starting in 1889, Democratic nominees have been listed first, followed by Republican nominees, followed by the nominees of other qualified parties, followed by independents. Independents have been listed in alphabetical order. Oddly, Tennessee has no law on the subject of the order of party nominees on the ballot. Some counties use office-group ballot format and some use party column format, but the traditional “Democrats first” applies to both types of county.

Some courts have held that states must use neutral principles when they determine the order of candidates on ballots. The most recent decision was from the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which ruled in 2006 that the Constitution requires that party columns be rotated. That case was called Akins v Secretary of State.