CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATIONS

I live in East Tennessee, where Republican voters have predominated elections since the Civil War. That means that many officials in East Tennessee are elected in the Republican primary election, because the Democrats frequently do not offer any candidates in their primary elections. The situation was reversed where, and when, I grew up in Kentucky. To date however, the Tennessee legislature, unlike Kentucky’s, has not mandated a party affiliation declaration in voter registrations.

Several years ago, the Tennessee legislature did enact additions to the residency requirements for voting, by requiring voters to declare, when they appear to vote in a primary election, both their present and future “affiliation” with the party in whose primary election they want to vote. Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-115(b)(2). That particular statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-115(b)(2), is patently unconstitutional under the State of Tennessee’s Constitution.

Article IV, Section 1 of the Tennessee Constitution reads as follows:

Every person, being eighteen years of age, being a citizen of the United States, being a resident of the state for a period of time as prescribed by the General Assembly, and being duly registered in the county of residence for a period of time prior to the day of any election as prescribed by the General Assembly, shall be entitled to vote in all federal, state, and local elections held in the county or district in which such person resides. All such requirements shall be equal and uniform across the state, and there shall be no other qualification attached to the right of suffrage.

[Emphasis Added]

Two of the foundations of American Constitutional Law hold that a “law repugnant to the constitution is void”[1] and that constitutional text must be interpreted “in connexion (sic) with [its] purpose . . . .”[2] Under those rules, Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-115(b)(2) is unconstitutional.

This is not legal advice for prospective voters in Tennessee primary elections. All voters are advised to seek legal advice from their own counsel before voting in those elections.

/s/ Dan D. Rhea

[1] Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 180 (1803)

[2] Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1, 189 (1824)