Two challenges against Tennessee’s absentee voting law are scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, in Davidson County Chancery Court.

Despite COVID-19 cases continuing to spread statewide, with Tennessee counting 373 more Thursday, Gov. Bill Lee is rejecting a request by the Tennessee Black Caucus to issue an executive order allowing universal absentee voting.

The details of the winning proposal for the new voting machines were made public Thursday with the signature of Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris. Still to come is approval of funding by the Shelby County Commission.

The Shelby County Election Commission picked new voting machines earlier this month without the public knowing the name of the company or the price. But it has done little to settle the ongoing debate about changes to how Memphis voters exercise their right.

Here are some of the terms being tossed around and process issues being explored in the move to a new voting system for Shelby County that has joined hands with some other balloting issues.

Shelby County election commissioners approved a new voting system for Shelby County Thursday night, May 7, that will include machines with a paper audit trail.

Voter rights advocates are challenging Tennessee’s “restrictive excuse” requirements for absentee ballots in a federal lawsuit, arguing the state should adapt its rules to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Shelby County Election Commission is preparing for an increase in absentee balloting in advance of the Aug. 6 election day.

The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government joined news organizations and journalists in filing an open meetings lawsuit Wednesday, April 29, against the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance in connection with a settlement for state Rep. Joe Towns of Memphis.

The Shelby County Election Commission delayed a decision Thursday on a new voting system. The commission will hold an in-person meeting sometime next week. The commission also certified the ballot for the Aug. 6 elections in Shelby County.

The pandemic has led to mail-in voting a third choice for a new voting system, and it has possibly made the hand shake a relic. And it could make the presidential race even closer than one nationally known analyst thought it was going to be.

On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Deborah Fisher of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government says the current idea that election commissioners and the public can't see proposals for a new voting system before the commission makes a decision in public is "bad government."

The Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee rejected state Rep. John DeBerry’s challenge Wednesday, April 15, keeping him off the House District 90 Democratic ballot in the August primary.

State Rep. John DeBerry said Monday he has no other choice but to challenge a decision by the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee to remove him from the August primary.

Two Shelby County Election Commissioners say on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that the method being discussed for making the choice on new voting machines would keep the price of the machines a secret until the decision is made because of legal opinions.

Leading Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly are knocking the Tennessee Democratic Party’s decision to take veteran state Rep. John DeBerry of Memphis off the August primary ballot.

The withdrawal deadline for the Aug. 6 ballot passed Thursday with several withdrawals from races on the Shelby County ballot. But much of the attention is on the decision the day before by the Tennessee Democratic Party to remove four contenders from the party primaries in Shelby County.

The Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee is set to vote Wednesday on whether remove Memphis state Rep. John DeBerry from the August primary ballot after a Memphis woman challenged his bonafide Democratic status.

The Registry of Election Finance held an email vote just before the April 2 qualifying deadline and cut a civil penalty against state Rep. Joe Towns by $44,100, enabling him to run for re-election.

Voter registration advocates are applauding the repeal of “onerous” restrictions and potential criminal penalties for large drives with the signing into law of new legislation passed in March.

The Thursday filing deadline also saw 14 confirmed candidates in the statewide Republican primary for U.S. Senate and five in the companion Democratic primary for the open seat.

A recap of the fields in the five Shelby County Schools board races and 16 races for the Tennessee Legislature.

Five incumbents could effectively win re-election at Thursday's noon deadline, but that's not a sure thing for most of them. And eight of the 16 seats in the Shelby County delegation to Nashville on the Aug. 6 ballot will likely be decided with the primaries as the winners run unopposed in the November general election.

County purchasing officials won’t make bid documents on a new voting system public until after the Election Commission makes a final decision. 

Shelby County Election Commissioners will meet electronically Wednesday, April 1, to discuss a new voting system for county elections.