Tennessee voter registration forms do not ask the applicant to choose a party, and Tennessee is considered an open primary state. But in the May 3, 2022 primary for local partisan office, a Tennessee voter in Madison County was threatened with prosecution because he is known to be a Democrat, yet he voted in the Republican primary. The voter, Gabe Hart, describes this experience here. As he relates, the Secretary of State, Tre Hargett, in a speech, agreed with Madison County election officials and said insincere voters cannot vote in primaries.
See this commentary from the editor of the Jackson Sun, who disagrees with the Secretary of State.
Tennessee has its primary for federal and state office on August 4, 2022, so this issue may come up again. Thanks to Michael Drucker for this news.
How do they determine whether or not a voter is sincere?
FAKE NEWS
This illustrates the problem with exclusionary partisan primaries, particularly those that are styled as so-called “open primaries”. If a voter wants to have an effective vote for offices of interest to them they may have to game the system.
Long-time readers of BAN may recall the case of the Tennessee Democrat State Committee throwing out the primary results of a legislative primary on the basis that Republicans had voted in it.
This illustrates the problem with partisan primaries funded by the government. Better would be abolishing primaries and using STV for the general, which in effect would combine a primary with the General.
NOOOO extremist caucuses, primaries and conventions.
ONE election day
equal ballot access – INDIVIDUALS
PR – PARTISAN
APPV – NONPARTISAN EXECS/JUDICS
TOTSOP
@Andy
That could be determined by campaign contributions, public statements, and if the person voted in a different primary previously. I seem to recall those things being used to prevent candidates from being placed on the primary ballot in Alabama.
Darryl you’ve let a lot of people down by aligning with CIA Sarwark and other LINOs. Why did you move to the left? Did your wife push you in that direction? Do you even think for yourself?
Go away Darryl. Go on a diet.
Can a party in TN opt out of the primary, and nominate by other methods?
What are the limits, if any, on state interventions to suppress voter ballot choices? Can the Supreme Court get a clue? Can voters?
“A registered voter is entitled to vote in a primary election . . . if:
(1) The voter is a bona fide member of and affiliated with the political party in whose primary the voter seeks to vote; or
(2) At the time the voter seeks to vote, the voter declares allegiance to the political party in whose primary the voter seeks to vote and states that the voter intends to affiliate with that party.”
More info:
https://scotblog.org/2016/01/yes-you-may-legally-vote-in-another-partys-primary-under-tennessee-law/
In 2015, the small town of Woodburn, Indiana, near Fort Wayne had a contested Democratic primary for Mayor where the Mayor was a Democrat but it was more just his ballot line instead of being a fervent believer in the party. There was no Republican on the ballot for Mayor. Woodburn is one of the smallest incorporated towns in the state and the final tallied vote was 71-59 in favor of the incumbent. After the election, the loser sued, stating that he had observed known Republicans voting in the Democratic primary. The town clerk told anyone that showed up primary day they could vote in the Democratic primary. Went to court. They realized that 2 sitting town councillors registered as Republicans voted in the Democratic primary, which meant if the result stood they automatically had changed their party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. The court along with both county decided to redo the election due to the clerk’s error, at which the incumbent mayor resigned to save the town the cost of another election. The Republicans nominated someone to fill the ballot vacancy since no one ran in their primary, and he wound up winning the general election 75-25 over the initial loser of the primary that challenged its result. The clerk also lost the general election 75-25, but was in the opposite party being a Republican. So 50% of the town that voted voted against the 2 people responsible for putting them through this ordeal and getting their town in the news.
This sentence should state:
“The court along with both county party chairs decided to redo the election due to the clerk’s error, at which the incumbent mayor resigned from the race to save the town the cost of another election.”
Gay. Like me.