In Tennessee we have open primary elections, where any person can vote in a party's primary without having to register to said party. Only 15 other states in the country have the same primary system.
But a Tennessee law passed earlier this year blurs our voting rights in an attempt to intimidate voters.
The "Polling Place Sign Bill" will require polling places to put up signs that say it is a crime to vote in a primary without being a bona fide party member. The League of Women Voters of Tennessee filed a lawsuit on Nov. 30 challenging the legality of the law.
"This new law will have a chilling effect on Tennesseans exercising their right to vote and creates unnecessary confusion for voters," Debby Gould, President of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, said in a press release. "The League of Women Voters will continue to fight to ensure that all voters are empowered at the ballot box and can feel confident in their right to vote."
The law passed earlier this year with only Republican votes in the state House and Senate. The GOP pushed for this law because they claimed that Democrats were crossing over to vote in their party's primary elections.
But it's not just Democrats who are concerned about what this will do to voting in Tennessee.
"I am a lifelong Republican, having served as an office holder and a candidate selected in the Republican primary as the party's candidate for the United States Senate," the plaintiff in the case, Victor Ashe, said. "At times, I have been critical of the actions of some elected Republicans, and I now learn party officials — without defining the conditions of party membership — could not only challenge my ability to vote but also seek to have me criminally prosecuted for voting in the primary where I have voted all my adult life."
House representative and sponsor of the bill, Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, says that the law is to ensure that nothing nefarious takes place at the polls.
"The 'Polling Place Sign Bill' is being misrepresented," Rudd said in a statement. "It does not define 'bona-fide' partisan status. Tennessee leaves the definition of a political party's bona-fide status up to each political party. Furthermore, the legislation does not make cross-over voting illegal. It is already illegal under Tennessee law for a person of one political party to cross-over into another party's primary with no intention of remaining with that party. In fact, it is punishable by both a Class C misdemeanor (TCA 2-7-115(b)) and a Class D felony (TCA 2-19-107) to do so under existing laws. HB0828 simply places a sign up at voting precincts notifying the public of an existing Tennessee law."
Yes, there is a law that does say that a member of a party cannot vote in another party's election with the intention of not being in the party, but what Rudd does not mention is the many Tennessee voters who are not registered with a party. These signs will only confuse those who are not officially affiliated with a party.
This bill only satisfies the GOP status quo that is more concerned with controlling the political landscape rather than letting the people decide who gets to lead.
Drowning in a red sea
Not that you needed a reminder, but Tennessee has a GOP super-majority in the state legislature which has been in place for at least two decades.
This sign law does nothing but confuse the normal voter who just so happens to vote for Democrats. Are we to penalize voters who just vote from their beliefs? This law is nothing more than a scare tactic by a party that chooses to use its power to see this state as a war zone rather than a place where diversity of thought is welcomed.
Also, it should be noted that there are Democrats and left-leaning people who live in rural areas. What are they to do when their local elections only have Republican candidates? They are being characterized as schemers just for voting.
Polarizing the vote
Not that the GOP cares, but not every person who votes in Democrat or Republican primaries is a registered party member because the law says they don't have to. So come election season, they are just trying to pick the right candidate for their community.
Thirty-eight percent of registered voters participated in the 2022 election cycle, according to data from the Secretary of the State's office. We risk lower voter turnout when we promote confusing language to a population of voters that don't care about partisan politics.
Voting is about community. Voting is expressing your voice.
And most importantly, it is, and should be, for everyone.