A Tennessee lawmaker’s challenge to his election loss threatens to nullify citizens’ votes and further suppress voter turnout in a state that already ranks at the bottom.
Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, lost the state House District 33 Aug. 1 primary election to challenger Rick Scarbrough by only 258 votes. The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office reported 2,963 votes for Scarbrough to 2,705 for Ragan.
Ragan does not contest that he received fewer votes than his opponent, but he alleges that many of those ballots cast came from people who are not “bona fide” members of the Republican Party – or in the lawmaker’s estimation, Democrats who crossed party lines.
Tennessee has open primaries, which means people do not have to declare a party affiliation and may choose to vote Republican in one primary election and Democratic in another one. However, there is a vague unenforced state law that requires primary voters to be “bona fide” members of their political party.
In its bylaws, the Tennessee GOP considers a bona fide Republican someone who is “loyal” to the party.
The Tennessee Democratic Party in its bylaws uses the word “faithful” to define bona fide but makes exceptions “in the spirit of an inclusive and a growing Party.”
Regardless of how the parties define it, citizens in an open-primary state should reasonably expect freedom to choose how to vote.
If several hundred votes are wiped away to tip the scale for a defeated incumbent, that is a travesty of democracy.
Gerrymandering and letters to naturalized citizens deter voters
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Elections Performance Index ranked Tennessee as 51st in voter turnout for the 2022 election among all the other states and the District of Columbia.
Voter turnout in the Aug. 1 primary election was 14% – the lowest it has been in decades.
This should horrify elected officials and move them to action to reverse course.
The state that was sued into fighting for “one-man, one-vote” (Baker v. Carr Supreme Court decision) should uphold a high civic standard.
Instead, in recent years, citizens have felt further disenfranchised.
The gerrymander of 2022 that split majority Democratic Nashville into three Republican-leaning districts diluted the vote for 700,000 residents.
No wonder some Democrats voted in Republican primaries.
Then, there was the Secretary of State’s decision over the summer to send 14,375 naturalized citizens official letters requesting proof of citizenship.
They were told they could face a felony conviction including two years in prison and a $5,000 fine if they voted unlawfully.
This amounted to intimidation.
Surely, there was a better way than the government sending threatening letters to ordinary citizens who already took one of the most patriotic steps imaginable in this country: Becoming a U.S. citizen.
Candidates should follow party rules, but let the voters make their own choices
Republicans dominate Tennessee state politics – the governor’s mansion and the super majority in the General Assembly.
However, Democrats have both employed gerrymandering and enforced party “bona fide” rules to benefit their political aspirations across the nation and in Tennessee.
The Tennessean reported that state Sen. Rosalind Kurita, a Democrat in District 22, was stripped of her 2008 primary win by the TNDP because her opponent, eventual Sen. Tim Barnes, alleged Republicans crossed over to vote for her.
Kurita did not succeed in a court challenge to retain her seat.
Requiring loyalty or faithfulness from the candidates themselves makes sense for political parties. However, voters should retain the choice to make a decision that best suits their interests.
In the marketplace of ideas, the best candidate would win regardless of party label. Perhaps, that is wishful thinking.
Scarbrough, Representative Ragan’s opponent, is right that when said: “I do fear the dangers this path may pose for our Party, our focus, and the faith all voters have in our election process.”
Whoever is the ultimate winner faces Democratic nominee Anne Backus, who was unopposed in the Aug. 1 Democratic primary but earned 2,381 votes – 582 fewer votes than Scarbrough and 324 votes fewer than Ragan received.
Election integrity is as much about the ensuring the process is right as much as it is about voters having faith in the system.
Candidates sometimes win and sometimes they lose. That is the democratic process.
Ragan should drop his challenge and accept his loss, and lawmakers should respect the intelligence of Tennessee voters to make good decisions at the ballot box.
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at [email protected] or find him on X at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Josh Ragan election challenge is voter intimidation, suppression
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
