In an effort to end “crossover voting” in primary elections, the Tennessee legislature passed a law that mandates that primary election voters be a “bone fide member of and affiliated with” a political party or “declare allegiance” to a party to vote in that party’s primary election. Otherwise, a prosecutable crime has been committed. Ashe v Hargett, m.d., 3:23cv-1256. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Eli J. Richardson, a Trump appointee. Here is the Complaint.

The law also mandates that warning signs be posted in all polling places informing primary voters of that law.

Tennessee does not have voter registration by party, so voters can select what party’s primary ballot they want.

Two Tennessee citizens who have had past involvement with both the Republican and Democratic parties and their candidates and the League of Women Voters of Tennessee filed suit last week in US District Court challenging the constitutionality of the law as overly vague and, therefore, unconstitutional.

Here is a story on the lawsuit from The Tennessean. It may be behind a paywall for some people.

Also, here is a press release from the LWVTN.

Here is the story.

The story may be behind a paywall for some people.

The lawsuit asks that a US District Court mandate that the word “Libertarian” appear on the Tennessee ballot for the November 5, 2024 election, even if an independent petition is used to get candidates on the ballot. It argues that denying information about candidates to the public is harmful.

Tennessee has been sued several times by minor parties. The Libertarian Party won in federal court in 2013, when a judge ordered that the State identify the LP’s State House candidates as Libertarian.

Here is a Utah news story about the lawsuit filed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., against the Utah independent petition deadline. The story does not tell the readers about the U.S. Supreme Court decision Anderson v Celebrezze, the 1983 decision that invalidated early deadlines for independent presidential candidates. Nor does the story mention that Utah already lost on this issue in 1984 when the deadline was April 15.