Some months ago, identical bills were introduced in each house of the Tennessee legislature to lower the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties to appear on the ballot. They are HB 3802, by Representative Harry Tindell (D-Knoxville), and SB 3687, by Senator Jim Kyle (D-Memphis). The bills are not worded very clearly, but they seem to suggest that a party that submits 1,000 signatures is ballot-qualified for all partisan office, and a party that submits 250 signatures within a legislative district is ballot-qualified for that district. The bills have an urgency clause, so if enacted, they would go into effect immediately.

The bills also say that after a party qualifies, it retains that status for four years.

The bills have several times been set for committee hearings, but then that hearing was always postponed. Therefore, so far, neither bill has made any headway.