The 6th circuit opinion of September 6, striking down Ohio’s ballot access law for new parties, will almost certainly help minor parties in Tennessee also. The 6th circuit includes Tennessee as well as Ohio. The aspects of the Ohio law that were unconstitutional are shared by Tennessee’ law.
In both states, the deadline for a new party to qualify are extremely early, and that was the core basis for the Ohio decision. Furthermore, both states share the characteristic that minor parties almost never get on the ballot.
Ohio requires a petition signed by 1% of the last vote cast, due in November of the year before the election. Tennessee requires a petition signed by 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote. The law is so badly worded, no deadline is specified. Fifteen years ago the Tennessee Elections Director said the deadline is April of even-numbered years. But about 5 years ago, the Tennessee Elections Director said the deadline is approximately January 1 of an election year.
No party has completed the Tennessee petition since 1968, when George Wallace’s American Party did so. This is a far worse record than Ohio, where the new party petition was last completed in 2000.
Like Ohio, Tennessee refuses to let candidates who use the independent procedure (which is much easier) use a party label on the November ballot. Tennessee legislature did pass a bill in 1999 letting such candidates use labels for 2000 only, but that is no longer in force. Except for the experiment with party labels in 2000, no party label has been printed on a Tennessee ballot (other than “Democratic” or “Republican”) since 1972.
