President’s Column, October 2024

In these last weeks leading up to the general election, our thoughts are naturally drawn to relevant news/information coming to us concerning the elections. This week, I have been particularly attentive to items that raise serious concerns on the one hand and make me appreciative of the importance of the work of the League of Women Voters on the other.

The first is the particularly concerning revelation that Tennessee consistently trails most other states both in the rates of voter registration and in voter turnout in elections. Think Tennessee, a Nashville-based think tank, analyzed national data from the November 3, 2022, midterm election and found that Tennessee was “51st -- dead last in voter turnout,” compared to the other states and the District of Columbia. This was not merely an aberration from previous election years, for Tennessee ranked 41st in 2012, 46th in 2014, 49th in 2016 and 47th in 2020. Similarly, only 38.6% of Tennessee registered voters actually voted in the November 2022 election, compared to 47.5 % of those eligible to cast ballots nationwide.

Lisa Quigley, a former actor on the Nashville political scene where she had served as chief of staff for former U.S. Representative Jim Cooper, called it “shocking” that voter turnout in Nashville fell by 50% between 2020 and 2024, at the very same time the city’s population was growing exponentially. “I think it’s a catastrophe for democracy,” she observed. (Steven Hale, Nashville Banner, “Primary Voter Turnout Collapses in Nashville and Across Tennessee, August 2, 2024). And I agree.

The League of Women Voters of Tennessee is working with Leagues across the nation not only in reaching out to register new voters but also in seeking to eliminate barriers to voterv registration and to increase access to the ballot. LWVTN President Debby Gould said, “Believing the ability of all voters to select the candidate of their choice at the polls is the bedrock principle of a democracy.” Therefore, immediately following the November 2022 election, the LWVTN and ALCU-TN secured a court order with the Davidson County Election Commission challenging ballot errors caused by misaligning voters with their correct precinct and ordering an independent audit to restore voters’ trust in the election process.

Previously, in 2019, LWVTN achieved victory when a federal district court judge granted the League an injunction against a new Tennessee law that leveled civil fines and criminal penalties on organizations registering voters. Even though many community organizations had consequently ceased their registration efforts, the court’s decision restored voter registration throughout the state.

And finally, just this May, LWVTN and its fellow plaintiffs achieved victory in the well-known “bona fide” member case, which required that all voters be restricted from voting in a primary unless they were a “bona fide” member of the party sponsoring the primary. Plaintiffs successfully argued that the law created confusion and intimidation. Not only did the law fail to define what constituted a “bona fide” party member, Tennessee voters are not required by the state to register with a party. If you were listening closely as the decision was finally handed down, I suspect you heard a collective sigh of relief.

The League’s diligent efforts to maintain the transparency and accessibility of the voting process are critical to our democracy. In these days when voting and elections are confronting challenges on every hand, the League’s efforts are at least as important, if not more important, than ever. Let us be sure, then, that our diligence does not waver as we stand firm in the face of the challenges coming our way.

Carolyn Dipboye, President LWVOR