Democrats seek court order to access names of absentee voters
The Tennessee Democratic Party and the campaign of U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Marquita Bradshaw have filed a lawsuit seeking access to the names of voters across the state who have requested and received absentee ballots but have not yet returned the completed mail-in ballots to their local election commissions.
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The lawsuit filed Sunday, Nov. 1, in Davidson County Chancery Court seeks an expedited hearing on the matter ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day. No hearing had been scheduled as of Sunday afternoon.
Marquita Bradshaw
It cites a state law that says absentee ballot requests from citizens and their applications remain confidential and not subject to the state’s open records law until the end of the 14-day early voting period.
Early voting in advance of the Nov. 3 Election Day ended the evening of Oct. 29. Absentee ballots completed by voters are due in the hands of county election officials by the time the polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Bill Hagerty
Bradshaw’s campaign and the Tennessee Democratic Party requested the information on outstanding absentee ballots the day after the end of early voting, according to the lawsuit, but were denied the specific information on voters’ names.
Bradshaw claims irreparable harm if there is no injunction issued by the court before the election “because the Senate campaign will be unable to learn which absentee voters need to be bothered about returning their ballots, and which voters may need contact from the campaign and further information.”
Bradshaw faces Republican Bill Hagerty Tuesday for the seat being vacated by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
State Republican Party leaders could not be reached for comment.
The Shelby County Election Commission has released general numbers of those seeking absentee ballots and how many had been returned during early voting. Approximately 30,000 Shelby County voters requested absentee ballots at the Oct. 27 deadline to make the request. Through the last day of early voting, 23,786 of the mail-in ballots had been returned to the election commission.
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absentee voting Marquita Bradshaw Davidson County Chancery Court Tennessee Secretary of StateBill Dries on demand
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
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