Let’s say you’re a District 7 voter in Hamilton County who typically casts a ballot for Democrats. You have all of one contested race in which to vote – county mayor – in the May 1 primary, but you know and like one of the Republican Circuit Court judge or register of deeds candidates. Could you, loyal Democrat, legally go to your voting place and request a ballot to vote in the Republican primary?
Yes, you could. And, of course, the same applies to a Republican voter who wants to vote in the Democratic primary.
Technically, though, according to a post on a legal blog dedicated to covering the Supreme Court of Tennessee, we are a closed primary state, which means only voters expressly affiliated with a particular party may vote in that specific party’s primary election.
Tennessee law spells it out: “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 in whose primary the voter seeks to vote and states that the voter intends to affiliate with that party.”
That sounds to us like party registration is mandatory or that there could be a whole lot of “declaring” and “stating” going on at polling places.