Dr. Jason Martin of Nashville, a likely contender in the Democratic primary for governor, campaigned in Memphis this past weekend.

County Commissioner Tami Sawyer announced Monday she will not seek a second term in the 2022 county elections. Her decision means six new faces on the commission in the next election.

Shelby County commissioners Monday voted down a new touch-screen voting system that includes a paper trail and moved to cut the Election Commission out of the process by taking new bids on a system that primarily uses hand-marked paper ballots.

Morgan is in his second term on the City Council, which has a limit of two consecutive terms. Contenders for county offices in the May Democratic and Republican primaries can’t begin pulling petitions to get on the ballot until Dec. 20.

A vote Monday by the Shelby County Commission on a new voting system could mean new voting machines by the May county primary elections. 

‘One of the greatest assets of ballot-marking devices is that ambiguous or indeterminate marks frequently made by voters when marking ballots by hand are completely eliminated,’ says Brent Taylor.

Incumbent Mayor Keith McDonald is not seeking another term and when asked Wednesday confirmed he is supporting Bartlett Alderman David Parsons in the race.

Meanwhile, both of the state’s Republican U.S. Senators have been critical of the Democratic bill that would change election laws. One of the few Tennessee Republicans dissenting on Cheney’s ouster, former Congressman Zach Wamp, says it represents a split in the Republican Party that could have implications in next year’s mid-term Congressional elections.

On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, the two-time Democratic nominee for the Tennessee General Assembly talks about the new Latino Democratic political action committee Fuerza, for which she serves on the board.

Despite major voting law reforms in some states, such as Georgia, few major changes have been made so far in Tennessee. 

Cary Vaughn is the new chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party as Democrats outline a long-term data-driven strategy and the county’s only Republican elected official opens her re-election campaign.

On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor talks about new discussions with county commissioners two months after the Election Commission voted to go to court in the simmering dispute.

Shelby County election commissioners chose Brent Taylor Tuesday, April 13, as the new chairman of the five-member body. 

Corker surfaced as former President Donald Trump was leaving office, prompting speculation Corker may be looking at a presidential bid in 2024 or some other bid for elected office in the 2022 midterm elections.

Tutor says the next local party chairman has a chance to win back countywide offices in 2022 that Republicans lost due to what Tutor says was the result of anti-Trump sentiment.

The effort to remove the judge who ruled last year that the COVID-19 pandemic was a valid reason for Tennesseans to vote by mail failed Tuesday, March 9, in a House subcommittee.

The bill in Nashville would outlaw partisan primary elections in Shelby and Davidson counties – the state’s two biggest concentrations of Democratic voters.

Demand for child care far exceeds supply in Tennessee, but a bill passed Monday, March 8, by the state Senate could give state employees more options.

A resolution with nearly unanimous House GOP support is calling for proceedings that could remove Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen’s tweets on Trump’s appearance offered a contrast to the social media reaction from Blackburn and Hagerty. Republican U.S. Rep. David Kustoff didn’t comment on CPAC but did post on his vote against the Democratic COVID stimulus package that passed in the House.

Business owners would be able to vote in elections where the business property is located, even if the owner doesn’t live in the same place as the business, under a bill being considered by the Tennessee General Assembly.

Here’s a review of some of the bills that would change elections in Shelby County and Tennessee. Some of them have been proposed before and others are new in the wake of the 2020 presidential election year.