Tennessee: ‘They’re opposed to government. But now they are the government.’ One county’s hard-right shift | Christina A. Cassidy/Associated Press
Conservative groups that have targeted and won majorities on local boards and commissions across the United States over the past couple years are now pressing agendas that include election distrust, skepticism of government and a desire to have religion play a greater role in public decision-making. The consequences are becoming apparent in places such as Sumner County, Tennessee, where a local Constitutional Republicans group won a majority last year on the county commission. Members have waged a political war on fellow Republicans they view as insufficiently conservative and are feuding with the county’s election commission in ways that could affect preparations for the 2024 presidential election. Read ArticleTennessee: Voting machines in Williamson County in limbo again after vote | Chris Gadd/Nashville Tennessean
The use of Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) for all voters versus hand-marked paper ballots has sparked a heated debate in Williamson County, Tennessee. The county commission recently voted against purchasing BMDs, a decision applauded by the Voters for Election Integrity citizen group. However, the county election commissioners, while disappointed, remain determined to find a solution. Advocates of BMDs argue for their accuracy and cost-effectiveness, citing an error rate of less than one percent. On the other hand, critics express concerns over the reliability of using devices to mark ballots and favor the traditional method of hand-marked paper ballots. Read ArticleTennessee: Multiple counties report issues with ballots | Adam Friedman Nashville Tennessean
Multiple counties across Tennessee have reported ballot issues leading to some early votes cast in the wrong races. Election officials in Benton, Davidson and Shelby counties have all reported ballots issues largely related to congressional districts that were redrawn earlier this year. Jeff Roberts, the Davidson County administrator of elections, said 438 voters in Nashville cast votes in the wrong races. Roberts said it's an increase from the 212 initially reported late last week because the previous amount did not factor in the final days of early voting, which ended on Nov. 3. Davidson has precincts split across the 5th, 6th and 7th Congressional districts. Meanwhile, Shelby County election officials reported 50 incorrect ballots were cast for voters in a precinct split between the 8th and 9th Congressional districts. A Benton County election official told the Associated Press some voters, likely fewer than 10, had been assigned to the wrong congressional districts, but they had fixed it before any votes were cast. Benton has precincts split between the 7th and 8th Congressional districts. Full Article: Tennessee election 2022: Multiple counties report issues with ballotsTennessee: Shelby County voters need choice between hand-marked, machine ballot, advocates say | Katherine Burgess/Memphis Commercial Appeal
Voting rights advocates said Friday they have received multiple reports of voters not being offered a choice between hand-marked paper ballots and voting by machine, something required by a compromise between the Shelby County Election Commission and the Shelby County Commission. “We need a uniform approach where voters are uniformly, every time offered a paper ballot option and then are not in any way discouraged,” said Steve Mulroy, who was recently elected as Shelby County District Attorney General but said he was not speaking in that capacity. “There should not be any steering towards the machines just because the poll workers are more used to the machines.” The Nov. 8 federal, state general and municipal elections is the first in which the county is using new voting machines that allow for a ballot to be cast either way. The Shelby County Commission only approved the purchase of the machines on the condition of a compromise where voters are offered both methods of voting. Early voting in the Nov. 8 election began Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 3. Not only are some voters not being offered a paper ballot at all, but some who are offered the choice are being steered toward the machine by poll workers who say machines are easier and faster, Mulroy said. Full Article: Voters need choice between hand-marked, machine ballot, advocates sayTennessee: Election Commission lawsuit against Shelby County withdrawn after vote on new machines | Katherine Burgess/Memphis Commercial Appeal
The Shelby County Election Commission has withdrawn its lawsuit against Shelby County Government, according to Linda Phillips, administrator of elections. The withdrawal comes after the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, whose members were sued, voted to fund new voting machines for the November election. “Effective yesterday, we mutually agreed to withdraw the lawsuit, and we all look forward to executing the November election with new voting machines,” Phillips said in a written statement. The end of the lawsuit and the upcoming purchase of new voting machines for the county ends a years-long standoff between the majority-Democrat County Commission, which prefers hand-marked paper ballots, and the majority-Republican Election Commission, which prefers ballot-marking devices. The two bodies have clashed in public and private over which method is most cost-effective, least susceptible to hacking and easier to audit. Full Article: Election Commission lawsuit against Shelby County withdrawn after vote on new machinesTennessee: Long Stalemate Ends on New Shelby County Voting Machines | Jackson Baker/Memphis Flyer
At long last, after at least two years of steady contentiousness between the County Commission and the Shelby County Election Commission, a resolution may have been reached on the matter of what kind of voting method should replace the currently used outmoded machines. But that auxiliary verb “may” is necessary. At several points during three-and-a-half hours of intense disagreements and outright verbal combat, various commissioners would invoke the prospect of reconsideration — that parliamentary device which allows voters for a majority position to call for a revote later on. Though a flurry of secondary issues became part of the argument, the essential debate at Monday’s commission meeting was between proponents of hand-marked paper ballots and defenders of the Election Commission’s preference for electronic ballot-marking devices. The commission had voted twice previously in favor of hand-marked paper ballots and had specifically rejected ballot-marking devices, but the resolution before the body on Monday called for almost $6 million to purchase ballot-marking machines from the Election Systems & Software company. It also allowed for a “compromise” procedure whereby voters could either ask for paper ballots or use the ballot-marking machines. Partisans of hand-marked paper ballots tended to be skeptical regarding the bona fides of that provision. At the end, in any event, the resolution would pass, though at various intervals a series of amendments that would have transformed it one way or another were introduced and then withdrawn. The final version targeted November as the changeover date, though Election Administrator Linda Phillips and Election Commission chairman Mark Luttrell had asked for action before the August county election on grounds that the county’s existing machines were on their last legs.
Full Article: Memphis Flyer | Long Stalemate Ends on New Voting Machines
Tennessee: Shelby County Commissioners, past, present and future, voice opposition to voting machine plan | Katherine Burgess/Memphis Commercial Appeal
Former, current and future Shelby County Commissioners gathered Friday to voice their opposition to a plan to approve the purchase of new voting machines for Shelby County, an idea poised to be voted on by the current county commission Monday. The Election Commission has said they would allow for voters to choose between voting on a machine that would then print out a ballot or voting with a pencil on a paper Scantron machine after the county spends $5.8 million on new machines from vendor Election Systems & Software, LLC, known as ES&S. If the resolution is approved, the equipment would be fully operational by the August general election, according to the Election Commission. But the group gathered Friday expressed concern that this would only result in hand-marked paper ballots being used by voters who knew to ask for them, meaning the majority of voters would still use ballot marking devices, something that has long been opposed by the Shelby County Commission. “Election security experts overwhelmingly are of the opinion that (hand-marked paper ballots) are the most secure system," said Steve Mulroy, a former county commissioner who is currently running for Shelby County District Attorney. "For reasons which boggle the mind, the Election Commission has been insisting for years on a much pricier, more hackable ballot marking device.” Full Article: Group urges opposition to voting machine purchaseTennessee: Shelby County could get new voting machines if a lawsuit is withdrawn | Katherine Burgess/Memphis Commercial Appeal
It took nearly four hours of arguing, questioning and the occasional longsuffering sigh, but Shelby County Commissioners finally voted Monday to fund new voting machines for the county to the tune of $5.8 million. Whether those machines are actually funded is contingent, however, on if the Shelby County Election Commission drops its ongoing lawsuit against Shelby County Government. And whether the Election Commission will do so may hinge on a key change from the original resolution presented Monday and the final version passed. The original, which had the support of the Election Commission, would have had voters using the new machines in the August general election. But commissioners, some voicing concerns about time to learn new machines while already getting used to new precincts, changed the resolution so machines will instead be in place for the November election. Not having new machines could put the August election in peril, Elections Administrator Linda Phillips has said. On May 20, the Election Commission filed a motion seeking to expedite the appeal in its lawsuit against the county, writing about how two of the three servers used for the current voting machines have failed. “The backup server periodically just shuts off and we live in terror that it will just stop functioning,” reads the motion filed by the Election Commission. “Consider, for example, what would happen if the server dies on election night. The results of the election would not be lost but it would take as many as 18 hours to get summary election results and 2 weeks to get precinct results, since the results from each precinct and early voting location would have to be manually transcribed.”
Full Article: Shelby County could get new voting machines if a lawsuit is withdrawnTennessee: Shelby County Commission will consider voting machine purchase again | Katherine Burgess/Memphis Commercial Appeal
After years of stalemate, the Shelby County Commission is poised to — once again — consider funding new voting machines for Shelby County. Whether the plan will be approved by Shelby County commissioners is yet to be seen. They have in the past voted down a similar arrangement, voicing support for hand-marked paper ballots over ballot marking devices. If approved, the agreement would spend $5.8 million on new machines from vendor Election Systems & Software, LLC, known as ES&S, having the equipment fully operational by the August 2022 general election. $2.4 million in those funds are reimbursable from the State of Tennessee. “We are at risk for the election that’s coming up in August, so that’s why we’re trying to move forward with having a process by which hopefully having this new equipment will achieve the outcome that it’s intended for,” said Shelby County Commission Chairman Willie Brooks Jr. Voters would then be able to choose at the polls between a paper ballot or an electronic ballot. The ballot marking machines will not allow voters to overvote. They are accessible for voters with disabilities. Full Article: Shelby County Commission will consider voting machine purchase againTennessee: Paper-trail law has county eyeing new voting machines | Heather Mullinix/Crossville Chronicle
Cumberland County needs to upgrade its voting machines before the 2024 elections, and money is available to defray the cost. Cumberland County Election Administrator Jill Davis explained the Tennessee General Assembly will require all voting machines in the state to be capable of producing a paper trail of votes. “This is the last year we can use the machines,” Davis said during the May 5 meeting of the Cumberland County Budget Committee. Cumberland County uses the Infinity election system by MicroVote. Davis said a request for proposals will have to be issued before selecting how to move forward, but the company offers a printer that can be added to the voting machine. Estimated cost is $4,300 per machine, with a request for 80 machines. “No one will ever know who you vote for,” Davis explained. “When you make your selections, you verify your vote and it does a printout behind the glass, so it’s never handled. It’s always there for the audits.”
Full Article: Paper-trail law has county eyeing new voting machines | News | crossville-chronicle.comTennessee: Divide over voting equipment in Shelby County | Joyce Peterson/WMC
The clock is ticking for Shelby County to order new voting equipment, but the two groups tasked with getting it done still don’t see eye to eye on which kind of voting machines to buy. Mark Luttrell, the former sheriff and mayor of Shelby County, now heads the Shelby County Election Commission. Job one, he told Action News 5, is to get this done. “We are woefully, woefully inadequate when it comes to this,” he said, “If there’s been any voter suppression in Shelby County, it’s because we don’t have up-to-date equipment. It’s just not efficient.” Even with a short ballot and low voter turnout, final results in Tuesday’s primary took several hours to tabulate. “It’s taking longer,” said Shelby County Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips, “because our equipment is old. With every election, it gets a little slower. It gets a little harder.”
Full Article: Divide over voting equipment in Shelby CountyTennessee prosecutor drops all charges against Pamela Moses, jailed over voting error | Sam Levine/The Guardian
A Memphis prosecutor has dropped all criminal charges against Pamela Moses, the Memphis woman who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote. Moses was convicted last year and sentenced in January. She was granted a new trial in February after the Guardian published a document showing that had not been given to her defense ahead of the trial. Moses was set to appear in court on Monday to find out whether prosecutors would pursue a retrial. The central issue in her case was whether she had known she was ineligible to vote when a probation officer filled out and signed a form indicating she was done with probation for a 2015 felony conviction and eligible to cast a ballot. Even though the probation officer admitted he had made a mistake, and Moses said she had no idea she was ineligible to vote, prosecutors said she knew she was ineligible and had deceived him. Moses stood in the lobby of the probation office while the officer went to his office to research her case for about an hour, he said at trial.
Full Article: Prosecutor drops all charges against Pamela Moses, jailed over voting error | Tennessee | The GuardianTennessee: Here’s why Williamson County is switching to new voting machines after state review | Cole Villena/Nashville Tennessean
Williamson County will use new voting machines in its 2022 election cycle following vote tabulation discrepancies found during the October election. The discrepancies did not affect the final vote tally of those elections, which were verified through a hand count. "The primary concern that we have at the Williamson County Election Commission is that elections are held with fidelity and transparency, and that voters would have confidence in the results," said Election Commission Chair Jonathan Duda. "This process has demonstrated that we're going to go to all efforts to ensure that occurs, and that's precisely what we're doing here." The county will rent and use Electronic Systems & Software machines in the 2022 election cycle. The machines function similarly to the Dominion voting machines used in previous elections and will output vote tallies both on physical "tapes" — essentially printed receipts — and electronically. The Tennessee State Department and third-party analysts recommended the switch in a February letter to the Election Commission. Duda served on the Williamson County Election Commission during the 2021 election cycle and was recently named chair. Former chair Bob Brown left the role to serve as U.S. House candidate Beth Harwell's campaign manager.
Full Article: Williamson County to ditch Dominion voting machines after state reviewTennessee: Shelby County Election and County Commission chairs propose voting machine compromise to end lawsuit | Katherine Burgess/Memphis Commercial Appeal
The chairs of the Shelby County Election Commission and Shelby County Commission have come up with a compromise on voting machines that they hope will lead to the end of litigation between their two bodies, Election Chairman Brent Taylor announced Monday. Whether that will happen hinges on the votes of the members of the two commissions, with election commissioners voting in support of the plan Monday night. The compromise is simple, Taylor described Monday: Voters at the polls will be offered the choice between using a ballot marking device or filling out a hand-marked paper ballot. “What both the County Commission and Election Commission want to make sure of is the election workers do not couch this in a way where we’re exhibiting a preference to where they cast their ballot,” Taylor said. Later that day, Taylor announced his resignation from the Election Commission and that he would be announcing his plans in the coming week. A Republican who has served on both the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, he is expected to seek further public office. Taylor said the proposed compromise arose from conversations with County Commission Chairman Willie Brooks Jr., who was not present at the news conference Monday in which Taylor announced the proposed solution.
Full Article: Shelby County Election, County Commission chairs: voting machinesTennessee: New evidence undermines case against Black US woman jailed for voting error | Sam Levine/The Guardian
I have an update in my reporting on the case of Pamela Moses, the 44-year-old Black Lives Matter Activist in Memphis who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote. The case has attracted significant national attention because many see Moses’ sentence as too severe and a clear example of disparities in the US criminal justice system. The prosecution’s case is built around the argument that Moses knew she was ineligible to vote because she was on probation, and people on felony probation in Tennessee cannot vote. Indeed, a few months before she tried to register, a judge had issued an order telling Moses her probation was ongoing. But nevertheless, prosecutors argued, she convinced a probation officer into signing a form saying she was eligible to vote and then knowingly submitted the document knowing it was false. “You tricked the probation department into giving you documents saying you were off probation,” W Mark Ward, the judge who sentenced Moses, said in January. Moses, for her part, told me she did not know she was ineligible and her lawyers have said she went to the probation office genuinely seeking clarity about whether she could vote. A new email I obtained through a public records request adds to evidence undercutting the claim that Moses tricked the officer. Full Article: New evidence undermines case against Black US woman jailed for voting error | US voting rights | The GuardianTennessee: Legal experts baffled by sentencing of woman for registering to vote | Associated Press
Some legal experts view as excessive and baffling the six-year prison sentence given to a Tennessee activist convicted of illegally registering to vote while on probation. Pamela Moses was convicted in November and sentenced to six years and a day on Jan. 31 by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge W. Mark Ward. The judge told Moses that he would consider placing her on probation after nine months if she completes certain prison programs and maintains good behavior, the district attorney’s office in Memphis said in a news release. Moses, who is Black, was convicted of multiple felonies and placed on probation in 2015, but she thought she was eligible to vote and tried to register in 2019. Some legal experts say the sentence illustrates the depth of the challenges faced by convicted felons when they try to have their voting rights restored and pointing out racial factors involved in the case. David Becker, a former attorney in the voting section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, said there is a movement among both conservatives and liberals to change “punitive and restrictive laws” that effectively disenfranchise people who have committed felonies but are not incarcerated and seek to return to society by exercising their right to vote. Many states are moving toward extending voter eligibility to such people, he said.
Full Article: Legal experts baffled by sentence for registering to vote | AP NewsTennessee lawmaker favors mirroring Georgia’s statewide voting system | Asia Ashley/The News Courier
A Tennessee state representative says he wants to instill more “confidence” in the state’s elections by implementing an electronic system similar to that used in Georgia since 2020. Initially, Republican Rep. Bruce Griffey filed a bill Dec. 29 to only allow votes to be cast by paper ballots statewide. According to the bill, HB 1662, ballots could only be hand-marked and must be counted using an electronic optical ballot scanner. However, Griffey said Monday he plans to re-draft the bill after speaking with Hardin County elections representatives about the county’s two-step voting verification process, which is similar to one used in Georgia. Georgia's voting machines were purchased from Dominion Voting which drew the ire of President Donald Trump loyalists who falsely claimed the Georgia presidential election was "rigged," despite the fact November 2020 results were re-certified and have been verified by two statewide audits and two recounts. John White, Hardin County, Tennessee, election commission chair, said its voting system — manufactured by Election Systems & Software — allows voters to make selections for each race via a touch screen computer. Once a voter confirms the selection, the ballot with the voter's selections is printed on paper. Full Article: Tennessee lawmaker favors mirroring Georgia's statewide voting system | News | enewscourier.comTennessee Lawmaker Proposes a Return to Voting Without Ballot-Marking Machines | Morgan Nicole Veysey/Tennessee Star
Tennessee Representative Bruce Griffey (R-District 75) introduced a new bill aimed to protect election safety in Tennessee by eliminating the use of ballot-marking voting machines, and instead, requiring voters to use “hand-marked paper ballots.” The bill would also authorize poll watchers to video record polling places. Griffey, who recently announced his candidacy for Circuit Court Judge for the 24th Judicial District, Division 2, has been consistent proponent for increased election integrity legislation. “I will be pursuing more election integrity legislation in the upcoming legislative session to cut down on fraud and try to prevent another disaster like November 2020!” he said on Facebook shortly before filing the bill proposal. The proposed measure is an amendment to the current Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, Chapter 9, and applies to the 2022 election and all elections thereafter. Full Article: Tennessee Lawmaker Proposes a Return to Voting Without Ballot-Marking Machines - Tennessee StarTennessee Secretary of State backs future election audits | Sam Stockard/Tennessee Lookout
Secretary of State Tre Hargett confirmed this week he is supporting a move to audit Tennessee’s elections, but maybe not for the 2020 count, which has been much-maligned by Republicans nationally. In an abbreviated interview Wednesday with the Tennessee Lookout, Hargett said an audit bill will be forthcoming in the 2022 legislative session. Hargett referred to comments made by State Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins at an October meeting when a Williamson County group clashed with the State Election Commission over the need for a forensic audit to stop voter fraud in Tennessee. “There’s going to be legislation next time regarding post-election audits,” Hargett said as he left a meeting of the State Funding Board at the Cordell Hull Building. Hargett didn’t provide many details, such as potential cost. He isn’t so sure, either, about legislation by Sen. Janice Bowling, which would require a forensic audit of the 2020 election. Hargett said he would have to read the legislation and noted if the Legislature tells his office to conduct one, or the governor signs it into law, then he would “do what we need to do.” Full Article: Stockard on the Stump: Secretary of State backs future election audits – Tennessee LookoutTennessee: Inside Franklin election issue: Poll workers caught errors, secretary of state advised hand count | Brinley Hineman/The Tennessean
After a voting machine tabulator possibly miscounted the total number of votes cast in a Tennessee municipal election, the county election commission held a hand count to verify vote totals. Under 4,000 people voted Tuesday in the Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen race. A software issue may have led the Dominion voting machines to incorrectly calculate vote totals. Of the five races, four were won by significant margins and are likely to not be impacted by the hand count. The Ward 3 seat was won by only 25 votes. This was the first time the county has had issues with the voting machines, Election Administrator Chad Gray told The Tennessean. In his 21-year career as the election administrator, nothing like this has happened before. The hand count was performed by 40 people in groups of four spread out among 10 tables. The tables worked in pairs to hand count the ballots to ensure accuracy. Only about two dozen people attended the count — mostly candidates and their representatives. The hand count was quiet and calm with a few deputies present. Election officials expected the count to take late into the night. Conservatives have been suspicious of Dominion voting machines following the 2020 presidential election, when inaccurate claims surfaced that the company rigged the election and contributed to widespread voter fraud.
Full Article: How Franklin, TN, caught election issue and decided on hand count
Tennessee: Chancellor Rules Against Shelby County Election Commission in Round One of Voting-Machine Dispute | Jackson Baker/Memphis Flyer
A Shelby County court has denied the request of the Shelby County Election Commission to force the Shelby County Commission to fund its call for the purchase of ES&S electronic voting machines to replace the county’s existing election machinery. Both bodies agree that the old voting machines must be replaced, but have disagreed on what should replace them, with the county commission maintaining that, as the entity empowered to pay for and to “adopt” the replacement devices, its twice-expressed official preference for devices employing paper ballots should prevail over the Election Commission’s choice of the $5.4 million ES&S ballot-marking devices, as recommended by Election Administrator Linda Phillips. After a hearing Thursday afternoon, Chancellor Gadson W. Perry denied the Election Commission’s petition for a writ of mandamus, which would have forced the issue in the EC’s favor. The judge cited contradictions in specific Tennessee statutes, with one of the several laws discussed in the hearing concretely giving the EC the right to select election machinery, while another, just as firmly, supported the county commission’s contention that its control of funding precluded a “duty” to rubber-stamp the EC’s choice.
Full Article: Memphis Flyer | Chancellor Rules Against EC in Round One of Voting-Machine Dispute
Tennessee: Shelby County Commission shoots down ballot-marking machines | Dulce Torres Guzman/Tennessee Lookout
On Monday, Shelby County Commission members voted 8-2 against a resolution to purchase Election System & Software ballot-marking devices and software, citing concerns that the voting machines were vulnerable. Since the 2020 election, the commission has been in debate with the Shelby County Election Commission on how to create confidence in election results. Shelby County commissioners cited an Arizona audit led by Republican state senators who were inspired by discredited claims that widespread voter frsaaud took the presidency from Donald Trump. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 voters, leading some elected officials to ask how states can create irrefutable election results and avoid future allegations. For the 2020 state and federal elections, the Shelby County commission approved the temporary use of hybrid machines that allowed voters to choose between hand-marked ballots and digital technology. Initially, the election commission favored hybrid devices before settling on ES&S devices, the nation’s largest manufacturer of voting technology. The company currently faces lawsuits due to allegations of errors leading to erroneous election results but inquiries found minimal evidence of voter fraud during the 2020 election. This week, the commission made a bipartisan decision to shoot down the election commission’s recommendation to use ballot-marking devices despite the election commission’s threatening to sue. Full Article: Shelby County Commission shoots down ballot-marking machines – Tennessee LookoutTennessee: Commissioners reject ballot marking devices in voting machine contract for Shelby County | Katherine Burgess/Memphis Commercial Appeal
The Shelby County Commission rejected a resolution to purchase voting machines for a second time, sending a resounding message to the Election Commission that they still favor hand-marked paper ballots, not ballot marking devices. “I can understand their position tonight,” Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor said. “Unfortunately, (the County Commission) is not charged with the responsibility of conducting elections. The Shelby County Election Commission is by statute charged with conducting elections by statute and we have said in order to conduct the elections in a free, fair, honest, open way we need these machines and it is the County Commission’s responsibility to fund them.” Commissioners later approved a resolution requesting that the county’s purchasing department assist with the procurement process for the purchase of voting machines and related software that support hand-marked paper ballots. The machines in the contract voted down Monday would have been for ballot marking devices, which permit voters to cast their ballots using a screen and producing a printout with a bar code. The county's current machines don't produce a paper trail to allow voters to review their decisions. Taylor said he will take the decision back to his body to assess what their options are, which could be anything from rebidding the request for proposal or going to Chancery Court to force the commission to fund ballot marking devices. It remains to be seen whether Monday’s vote means the old machines will be used in the 2022 election, Taylor said. It is possible that they could appear before Chancery Court on an emergency basis and have a ruling in enough time to purchase equipment before the election. Full Article: Shelby County rejects ballot marking devices in voting machine contractTennessee: Shelby County Election Commission chairman says County Commission not cooperating on voting machines | Bill Dries/Daily Memphian
The chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission says county commissioners waited until after he left their meeting Monday, July 26, to approve what amounts to an end run around the Election Commission in picking a new voting system. Brent Taylor told The Daily Memphian he will discuss with other election commissioners the move by county commissioners to take proposals on a new voting system on their own. “It was our hope to work with the County Commission to resolve this in the best interest of Shelby Countians,” Taylor said the day after the vote. “However, adding an item to the agenda, which effectively bypasses the Shelby County Election Commission in conducting elections after the members of the Election Commission have left the building, doesn’t indicate a willingness to work cooperatively for Shelby County voters.” That could mean the Election Commission takes the County Commission to Chancery Court in a lawsuit over which body gets to pick the county’s new voting system with 2022 elections less than a year away. County Commission Chairman Eddie Jones introduced the add-on item near the end of Monday’s agenda with no notice or discussion of the move in committee sessions last week. The resolution instructs the county purchasing department to begin taking proposals on a new voting system for local elections that are based in hand-marked paper ballots. “This is just to start that process up so we don’t get caught by other things happening,” Jones said. “If we do this now and start the process, it could be done by close to the end of September for what the majority of this body voted for. Earlier in Monday’s County Commission meeting, the body voted down a $3.9 million contract brought by the Election Commission for a new voting system that would have used updated touch screen machines like those used in local elections for the past 16 years. Full Article: Election Commission chairman says County Commission not cooperating on voting machines - Memphis Local, Sports, Business & Food News | Daily MemphianTennessee and 6 other states still have bans on atheists holding office | Kristina M. Lee/Tennessee Lookout
Tennessee’s Constitution includes a provision that bars three groups from holding office: atheists, ministers and those engaging in duels. Efforts are under way in the state legislature to remove this exclusion for ministers, but not for duelists – or atheists. In January 2021, Republican Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, proposed Senate Joint Resolution 55 to amend Article IX of the Constitution of Tennessee to rid it of a clause that states “no minister of the Gospel, or priest of any denomination whatever, shall be eligible to a seat in either House of the Legislature.” No mention is made in Pody’s resolution about Section 2 of the same article: “No person who denies the being of God … shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.” Nor for that matter does the current bill mention Section 3’s objection to those who participate, aid or abet a duel. When Pody was asked why his resolution removes only the ban on ministers, his response was that it is best to clean up the constitution “one simple step at a time.” Tennessee is one of seven states that has an unconstitutional ban on atheists holding public office. Although superseded by Supreme Court rulings, such bans are important. As a scholar of religious and political rhetoric who focuses on the marginalization of U.S. atheists, I believe they reflect the normalization of anti-atheism that has yet to be truly dealt with, or rarely acknowledged, in the United States.
Full Article: Why it matters that 7 states still have bans on atheists holding office – Tennessee Lookout
Tennessee: Talks start over new Shelby County voting system compromise | Bill Dries/Daily Memphian
Two months after the Shelby County Election Commission approved a possible lawsuit against the County Commission over new voting machines, no lawsuit has been filed and both sides in the dispute are talking. “The talks are very preliminary,” Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor said on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast. Taylor also discussed during the podcast changes to the election process considered by the Tennessee General Assembly. The podcast also includes an interview with Memphis Police Chief nominee Cerelyn ‘CJ’ Davis. “Right now, we are in discussions about trying to meet so we can discuss the contract and find out if there is any compromise,” Taylor said of the possible lawsuit. “Any way that we can come together and make sure that we balance the needs of the Election Commission with those of the County Commission.” The County Commission rejected this past October a $5.8 million contract approved by the Election Commission for a new voting system featuring updated touch screen voting machines and a paper readout of a voter’s selections. That system would allow the ballot to be put through a digital scanner and would then put the paper record in a sealed ballot box.
Full Article: Talks start over new voting system compromise - Memphis Local, Sports, Business & Food News | Daily Memphian
Tennessee: Shelby County Election Commission to sue over voting equipment funds | Laura Testino/Memphis Commercial Appeal
The Shelby County Election Commission intends to file suit against the county commission over funding it says it needs for new voting equipment. Election commissioners met in an executive session with attorneys about the matter Tuesday, according to a release from the election commission. "The County Commission has repeatedly denied our requests to fund the ballot marking devices, because they want paper ballots,” Steve Stamson, chairman of the election commissioners, said in a statement. He said the election commission attempted to put the funding measure back on a county commission agenda for January, but that the request was denied. Although a filing date was not discussed during the session, the suit is likely to be filed in a local court within the next 30 days, Suzanne Thompson, spokesperson for the election commission, said by phone. The ultimate filing date is up to attorney Allan Wade, she said. Wade, of The Wade Law Firm, will represent the election commission. Election commissioners say the need for funding for the new equipment is urgent. The vendor that supports the voting machines that are currently in use, the commissioners say, is stopping service at the end of the year. Funding was denied in 2020, ahead of the Nov. 3 election, as county commissioners raised questions about the bidding process for the proposed machines.
Full Article: Shelby County Election Commission to sue over voting equipment funds
Tennessee congressman introducing resolution to abolish Electoral College | WMC
Representative Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, announced Friday plans to introduce a resolution to abolish the Electoral College saying the presidency should be decided by the popular vote. The congressman is Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. He introduced a joint resolution calling for an end to the Electoral College at the beginning of the previous Congress in 2019. A news release from his office calls the Electoral College an “archaic institution” that has in the last two decades twice given the White House to a candidate who did not win the popular vote, “defeating the will of the American people.” “The Americans expect and deserve the winner of the popular vote to win office,” reads a statement from the congressman. “More than a century ago, we amended our Constitution to provide for the direct election of U.S. Senators. It is past time to directly elect our President and Vice President. The Electoral College is a vestige of the 18th Century when voters didn’t know the candidates who now appear daily on their television screens. Wednesday’s mayhem at the Capitol shows that efforts can be made to manipulate the Electoral College vote using falsehoods and shenanigans by ambitious politicians. The President should always be elected by the people, not the politicians, and the Electoral College allows politicians to make the ultimate decision. It is well past time to do away with this anachronistic institution and guarantee a fair and accurate vote for President." Cohen also cited the pro-Trump supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday to interrupt certification of the Electoral College vote.
Full Article: Tennessee congressman introducing resolution to abolish Electoral College
Tennessee: ‘A dark day for America’: State lawmakers condemn rioters storming US Capitol | Yue Stella Yu and Natalie Allison/Nashville Tennessean
Tennessee's congressional delegation condemned the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, bringing a joint session of Congress to a halt and forcing lawmakers and staff into lockdown. Most of Tennessee's Republican delegation began the day vowing to support President Donald Trump's futile efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, saying they would not certify several states' Electoral College votes. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn on Wednesday morning tweeted that "lots of Tennesseans" had traveled to the nation's Capitol to support Trump. But after rioters breached the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday afternoon, the lawmaker's tenor changed. After years of encouraging Trump supporters and repeating his false statements, Tennessee's two U.S. Senators used social media to say they disapproved of the rioting. "You are disrupting the democratic process," Blackburn tweeted after rioters breached the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday afternoon. "You should be ashamed of yourself. This is violence. This is a crime. It must stop." Newly sworn-in U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, who replaced former U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, also condemned the violence on Wednesday. "What is happening at the U.S. Capitol right now is not peaceful, this is violence," Hagerty said on Twitter. "I condemn it in the strongest terms. We are a nation of laws and this must stop."
Full Article: Protest at U.S. Capitol: Tennessee delegates on lockdown, riots