County Primary Elections Waste of Time and Money

Voters in Nashville have been headed for the polls during the past couple of weeks for early voting ahead of the county primaries - both Democrat and Republican. Election Day is Tuesday, May 3. At stake are many offices such as Register of Deeds, County Clerk, and court clerks: Offices which are not prominent in the public eye but which are important for Davidson County. These officials are keepers of important public records and funds. They may not be as visible as governor and mayor, but they are worthy of our consideration.

Additionally, we will see many judgeships on the ballot, along with district attorney general and public defender. Most every judge in the state of Tennessee is either on a traditional ballot or a "Missouri ballot" where the judge will get a "yes or no" from the voters regarding their retention. The five justices of the state Supreme Court and the judges of the Court of Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals will be on a Missouri ballot in the election that takes place in August.

As important as elections are, this county primary situation is one that I do not feel is necessary. County primary elections should be abolished, and all local public officials and all judges should face the public as independent candidates not affiliated with either party.

In Davidson County, the May Democratic primary election has long determined the eventual winner in August. No one will actually be elected on May 3, 2022. There will be many nominees who will coast to victory with either nominal opposition or no opposition when August comes around. But no one will take office until September 1.

In other counties such as my native Cheatham County, county primaries are a novelty and likely confuse an electorate which is already inundated with campaigning in years such as this one. Republicans have requested a county primary in Cheatham for the first time in history, and many local officials and judges in counties such as this will be elected after receiving the Republican nomination on May 3. I don't keep a careful track of most counties, but I think we all realize that rural counties in Tennessee are dominated by Republicans. Urban areas such as Nashville are Democratic.

There is simply no Democratic or Republican way to run local row offices or to rule from the trial or appellate bench in state cases. County primaries are tools of state parties to wield influence and to raise a bench of candidates to run for higher office. The hard facts for Democrats is that there are fewer and fewer higher offices that they will be able to compete for in the foreseeable future.

The redrawing ("redistricting") of U.S. House of Representative districts by the Tennessee General Assembly and Governor Lee have divided Davidson County three ways and likely assured national Republicans of a one-seat pickup this fall. It would be a severe uphill fight for any Democrat to compete in any of the respective districts that include parts of Davidson County.

It is possible that local candidates could eventually run for state House or state Senate seats. But even these are becoming more and more scarce for Democrats as districts are redrawn to favor Republicans.

On the flip side, Republicans in rural counties have no reasonable motive for requesting county primaries other than a sheer desire for more power and influence. Leaders aren't required to hold office, and there should always be a deep bench of candidates in Tennessee for Republicans at all levels of government.

The upshot is that, from all I understand, taxpayers at some level are picking up the tab for the costs of these county primary elections. I doubt seriously that they will be abolished at any time in the near future.

But all Tennesseans would be better off to keep party politics at the statewide and national levels and out of our local county offices and courtrooms.

James A. Rose

Publisher