Ballot access requirements for political parties in Tennessee

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Note: This article is not intended to serve as a guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.

Although there are hundreds of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.

HIGHLIGHTS

As of May 2024, Tennessee officially recognized three political parties: the Democratic, No Labels, and Republican parties.

In some states, a candidate may choose to have a label other than that of an officially recognized party appear alongside his or her name on the ballot. Such labels are called political party designations. Tennessee does not allow candidates to use political party designations.

To learn more about ballot access requirements for political candidates in Tennessee, see this article.

See state election laws

Process for a political party to obtain ballot status

Seal of Tennessee

See statutes: Chapter 2-13, Chapter 2-1, and Chapter 2-5 of the Tennessee Code

The Tennessee Code makes the distinction between a "statewide political party" and a "recognized minor party." A recognized minor party means any group or association that has successfully petitioned by filing with the Tennessee Coordinator of Elections a petition that conforms to requirements established by the code. Those requirements include submitting a petition with signatures equaling 2.5 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor at the last gubernatorial election. A "statewide political party" means a political party that had at least one "whose candidates for an office to be elected by voters of the entire state has received a number of votes equal to at least five percent (5%) of the total number of votes cast for gubernatorial candidates in the most recent election of governor." A statewide political party has automatic access to the ballot.

Minor party recognition

In order to become a recognized minor party, a petition must be submitted to the Tennessee Coordinator of Elections and must include the following:

1. the signatures of registered voters equal to at least 2.5 percent of the total number of votes cast for gubernatorial candidates in the most recent election for governor
2. the petition's purpose, the party's name, and signatures of registered voters from a single county

Petitions are not issued more than 90 days before the qualifying deadline. The coordinator of elections has the power to determine the start date for the issuance of petitions.

No political party may have nominees on a ballot, or exercise any of the rights of political parties, until its officers have filed the following with the secretary of state and with the coordinator of elections:

1. an affidavit under oath that the party does not advocate the overthrow of local, state, or national government by force or violence and that it is not affiliated with any organization that does advocate such a policy
2. a copy of the rules under which the party and its subdivisions operate; copies of amendments or additions to the rules must be filed with the secretary of state and with the coordinator of elections within 30 days after they are adopted and cannot take effect until 10 days after they are filed

Once a non-recognized minor party submits the petition containing the required number of signatures, the party will become an officially recognized minor party. To retain access to the ballot in subsequent election cycles, a statewide candidate for that party must win five percent of the total number of votes cast for that office.

Political parties

See also: List of political parties in the United States

As of May 2024, there were three officially recognized political parties in Tennessee. These are listed in the table below.

Party	Website link	By-laws/platform link
Democratic Party of Tennessee	Link
No Labels	Link
Republican Party of Tennessee	Link	Party platform

Historical events

2015

In February 2012, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee nullifed Tennessee's 2011 ballot access law for minor parties in a case brought by the Green Party of Tennessee and the Constitution Party of Tennessee. Judge William Haynes concluded that the state's signature requirement (2.5 percent of the total number of votes cast in the previous election for governor) for minor parties and the early deadline for the submission of a petition to create a new political party was a violation of the First Amendment. The court also declared unconstitutional the requirement for minor parties to hold a primary, in light of Tennessee's status as an open primary state with no party registration. The decision placed candidates for the Constitution Party and the Green Party on the ballot in 2012, given both parties' prior attempts to collect and submit the several thousand signatures necessary to achieve ballot access. The state appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in 2012. In November 2012, the circuit court returned the case to the district court, which ruled again in favor for the minor parties. The state again appealed the decision to the circuit court, which heard oral arguments on August 7, 2014.

While the Constitution Party and the Green Party gained ballot access for the 2012 elections in Tennessee after the initial district court decision, neither of the party's candidates for the United States Senate won 5 percent of the total votes cast for that office. By failing to meet that threshold, the parties were unable to retain ballot status.

On July 2, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that Tennessee's minor party vote test violated the United States Constitution. State law requires that a minor party's candidate for the highest office on the ballot win at least 5 percent of the total vote cast for that office in order to remain ballot-qualified. The court also ruled that a loyalty oath required of new political parties was unconstitutional (according to Ballot Access News, the state had not attempted to defend the loyalty oath in court).

2013

In October 2013, a United States district court judge ruled in favor of Jim Tomasik, the Libertarian Party candidate in a special election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 91. Prior to the ruling, the state coordinator of elections refused to identify Libertarian candidates or other minor party labels on the ballot due to Tennessee's ballot access laws. The judge ruled against the state and ordered Tennessee election officials to put Tomasik on the ballot as a Libertarian rather than as an independent candidate.

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See also

• Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Tennessee
• Ballot access requirements for presidential candidates in Tennessee
• List of political parties in the United States
• Democratic Party of Tennessee
• Republican Party of Tennessee

External links

• Tennessee Democratic Party
• Tennessee Republican Party

Footnotes

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