NASHVILLE – State Republican Party leaders want Tennessee lawmakers to kill the state’s open party primary system by enacting a law requiring voters to declare their political party affiliation on registration forms and also register by party if they want to vote in a GOP or Democratic party primary election.
A resolution calling on the GOP-controlled General Assembly to pass a law aimed at barring “cross over” voting was approved Saturday by Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee meeting.
Republican SEC members also approved a second resolution calling on lawmakers to increase the number of signatures from registered voters that candidates must gather in order to run for public office.
The current requirement is 25 signatures whether someone is running for a town council or governor or U.S. Senate. Among other things, the state GOP wants to raise the statewide number of signatures to 1,000.
And in yet a third resolution that was approved involving public elected offices, the State Executive Committee wants a state requirement for a special election to be called in the case of a vacancy within 45 days of the general election.