Judge upholds Tennessee law to stop crossover primary voting; critics say law is too vague

(Former U.S. Ambassador to Poland, and former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe speaks during an interview, Sept. 22, 2009, in Warsaw, Poland. A federal judge in Nashville on Monday, March 4, 2024 dismissed a challenge to a Tennessee law aimed at making sure primary voters are “bona fide” members of the party they are voting for. Ashe sued state election officials in November, claiming the law is so vague that he could be prosecuted for voting in a Republican primary. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

From our partners at Local 3 News, published by Nashville AP: A federal judge in Nashville on Monday dismissed a challenge to a Tennessee law aimed at making sure primary voters are “bona fide” members of the party they are voting for.

Former Ambassador to Poland and longtime Tennessee Republican politician Victor Ashe sued state election officials in November, claiming the law is so vague that he could be prosecuted for voting in a Republican primary.

A law passed last year requires polling places to post warning signs stating that it’s a crime to vote in a political party’s primary if you are not a bona fide member of that party. Those signs refer back to a 1972 state law that has rarely been invoked. It requires primary voters to be “bona fide” party members or to “declare allegiance” to the party.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Ashe, real estate developer Phil Lawson, and the League of Women Voters of Tennessee lack standing to sue.

Republicans, who control the Tennessee legislature, have discussed closing primaries for years, but the idea has never had enough support to pass.