All 11 Nashville early voting sites are likely to be reinstated and cleared to operate next month after an apparent compromise between the Metro Council and Davidson County Election Commission has eased election officials’ concerns. A budget spat with the mayor’s office that could have resulted in the elimination of all but one early voting site appears resolved. Renewed optimism from election commission chairman Ron Buchanan comes after Metro Council Budget and Finance Committee Chairman Bill Pridemore has committed to an additional $283,500 in funding for the election commission as part of a substitute budget to Mayor Karl Dean’s original proposal.
Buchanan initially told The Tennessean late Thursday that this dollar-amount would not be enough to cover all 10 satellite election locations that the commission had cut. It had made those cuts after Dean’s budget proposal came in $868,000 short of their budget request.
However, Buchanan said Friday that when he made his comments he wasn’t aware of another part of the agreement — that the council would consider appropriating additional funding later in the year “upon the demonstration of the need.”
Full Article: Nashville early voting sites appear saved by compromise.