Election integrity is both about making sure the process is correct and about making sure voters have confidence in the system. Candidates win or lose. That is the democratic process.
Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District: Andy Ogles runs against Maryam Abolfazli
Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles of Columbia defeated Metro Nashville City Council member Courtney Johnston. He will now face Democrat Maryam Abolfazli in November.
The challenge of his election defeat by a congressman from Tennessee threatens to invalidate the people’s votes and further reduce voter turnout in a state that is already in the last places.
Republican Rep. John Ragan of Oak Ridge lost the Aug. 1 primary in the state’s 33rd House District to challenger Rick Scarbrough by just 258 votes. The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office reported 2,963 votes for Scarbrough and 2,705 for Ragan.
Ragan does not deny that he received fewer votes than his opponent, but claims that many of the votes cast came from people who were not “true” members of the Republican Party – or, in the congressman’s estimation, from Democrats who crossed party lines.
Tennessee has open primaries, meaning voters do not have to declare party affiliation and can vote Republican in one primary and Democrat in another. However, there is a vague, unenforceable state law that requires voters in the primary to be “bona fide” members of their political party.
According to the Tennessee Republican Charter, a true Republican is someone who is “loyal” to the party.
The Tennessee State Democratic Party uses the word “loyal” in its constitution to define bona fide, but makes exceptions “in the spirit of an inclusive and growing party.”
Regardless of how the parties define it, citizens in a state with open primaries can reasonably expect to be free to choose how they vote.
When several hundred votes are lost to tip the balance in favor of a defeated incumbent, it is a farce of democracy.
Constituency manipulation and letters to naturalized citizens scare away voters
In the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Elections Performance Index, Tennessee ranks 51st among all other states and the District of Columbia in terms of voter turnout in the 2022 election.
Voter turnout in the August 1 primary was 14% – the lowest in decades.
This should horrify elected officials and cause them to change course.
The state, which fought for the principle of “one person, one vote” (Supreme Court decision in Baker v. Carr), should maintain high civic standards.
Instead, citizens have felt even more disempowered in recent years.
The 2022 election manipulation, in which the Democratic-dominated Nashville was divided into three Republican-dominated districts, diluted the voting rights of 700,000 residents.
No wonder some Democrats voted Republican in the primaries.
Then, in the summer, the Foreign Minister decided to send official letters to 14,375 naturalized citizens asking them to provide proof of citizenship.
They were told that if they voted illegally, they could face a felony conviction, including two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
This was tantamount to intimidation.
There was surely a better way than for the government to send threatening letters to ordinary citizens who had already taken one of the most patriotic steps imaginable in this country: obtaining American citizenship.
Candidates should follow party rules but let voters make their own decisions
Republicans dominate Tennessee politics—they control the governor’s residence and have an overwhelming majority in the General Assembly.
However, Democrats have used both gerrymandering and their party’s “bona fide” rules to advance their political ambitions across the country and in Tennessee.
As the daily newspaper The Tennessean reported, Democratic Senator Rosalind Kurita in the 22nd constituency was stripped of her victory in the 2008 primary elections by the TNDP because her opponent, later Senator Tim Barnes, had claimed that Republicans had left the party and voted for her.
Kurita was unsuccessful in court and could not keep her seat.
Requiring loyalty or fidelity from candidates makes sense for political parties, but voters should be free to make a choice that best suits their interests.
In the marketplace of ideas, the best candidate would win regardless of party affiliation. Perhaps that is wishful thinking.
Scarbrough, Rep. Ragan’s opponent, is right when he says, “I fear the dangers this path could pose to our party, our direction, and the confidence of all voters in our electoral process.”
Whoever the ultimate winner will face Democratic candidate Anne Backus, who ran unopposed in the August 1 Democratic primary but received 2,381 votes – 582 fewer than Scarbrough and 324 fewer than Ragan.
Election integrity is about both ensuring that the process is correct and ensuring voters have confidence in the system.
Sometimes candidates win, sometimes they lose. That’s the democratic process.
Ragan should withdraw his challenge and accept defeat, and lawmakers should respect the intelligence of Tennessee voters who make good choices at the ballot box.
David Plazas is the opinion and engagement director for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is a member of The Tennessean’s editorial board. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and is curator of 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.
