A Republican lawmaker filed legislation on Wednesday to begin the process to remove the Nashville judge whose ruling last year expanded absentee voting during the pandemic.
State Rep. Tim Rudd’s resolution would authorize state Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton to appoint a committee to consider the removal of Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle.
Rudd said he filed the resolution in response to Lyle’s ruling, which allowed health concerns about COVID-19 as an acceptable reason to request an absentee ballot. Lyle’s order expanded absentee voting substantially for the August primary election.
The state Supreme Court reversed the portion of Lyle’s ruling regarding fear of the virus as a reason to vote by mail, but the court upheld much of her order. At the 11th hour, state attorneys reversed their pleadings in the lower court and told the Supreme Court the state would relent on allowing voters with pre-existing conditions making them susceptible to COVID-19 to vote by mail.
Tennessee was one of just five states where all voters were not allowed to vote by mail for the November election.