Metro Mayor’s Election Must Be In May: State Supreme Court

NASHVILLE, TN -- Coming far sooner than expected: a Metro mayoral election.

In an unanimous ruling issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Tennessee ruled that Metro must hold an election to fill the remainder of former Mayor Megan Barry's term between May 21 and May 25 and not in August, as scheduled, thus drastically reducing what was already a truncated campaign window.

The ruling reverses Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman, who ruled in March that the August date set by the election commission was valid.

At issue is whether the August election qualifies as a "general metropolitan election."

Following a a change made after a 2007 referendum, Section 15 of the Metro Charter says "There shall be held a special metropolitan election to fill a vacancy for the unexpired term in the office of mayor and in the office of district council member whenever such vacancy shall exist more than twelve (12) months prior to the date of the next general metropolitan election."

Bonnyman ruled that August countywide elections satisfied the requirements of a "general metropolitan election." If it didn't, the commission would be required to call a special election between 75 and 80 days of the vacancy.

So what's the dispute?

Earlier in Section 15, the charter defines "general metropolitan election" thus:

"For the purpose of electing a mayor, vice-mayor, five (5) councilmen-at-large and thirty-five (35) district councilmen, there shall be held on the first Thursday in April, 1966, and on the first Thursday in August of 1971, and each four (4) years thereafter, a general metropolitan election."

Former Metro Councilmember Jamie Hollin, one of Wallace's attorneys, said that makes it clear the next general metropolitan election isn't the August 2018 ballot with the register of deeds and the judges, but the August 2019 ballot, more than 12 months hence and therefore requiring the May election date.

Since the 2007 charter change, Metro and the election commission have used what the state Supreme Court has now ruled is an incorrect interpretation of the special election provision.

The state supreme court agreed. In a summary of the ruling, the court wrote:

In the unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice Jeff Bivins, the Court determined that the Metro Charter was unambiguous in that it purposefully distinguished between a 'general election' and a 'general metropolitan election.' The Court interpreted the Charter as defining the 'general metropolitan election' only to occur on the first Thursday in August of every fourth odd-numbered year, beginning in 1971. The Court held that, because the mayoral vacancy occurred more than twelve months prior to the next general metropolitan election, which is scheduled for August 1, 2019, the Charter requires a special election. Furthermore, the Court determined that, because Tennessee law requires that a special election be held between 75 and 80 days after notification of the vacancy, the Commission is not authorized to set the election for the mayoral vacancy at the same time as the August 2, 2018 election. The case now returns to the Commission to implement the Court’s ruling.

The court said it was clear that the framers of the charter specifically intended for metropolitan elections to be defined separately from other elections.

A new qualifying date for the election is set for Thursday. The election commission will decide when, between May 21 and 25, the election will actually occur and set early voting dates as appropriate. The ruling also means Nashville voters will go to the polls twice in a month, with the transit referendum and various county office primaries on a ballot earlier in May.

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