opinion

Elections commissioners disenfranchise Nashville voters

The Davidson County Election Commission is disenfranchising voters over a municipal budget dispute.

At issue is the amount of money the commission will receive in Mayor Karl Dean's 2015-16 budget.

Even though the Commission is receiving more than $1 million more than the previous year, commissioners voted 3-2 in a special meeting Wednesday afternoon to slash early voting satellite sites from 10 to one.

The reason: its proposed budget falls $868,000 short of its request to pay for 12 new employees.

If this decision isn't reversed, Music City risks committing mass voter suppression in its most important election of the decade. A new mayor will be elected as well as at least half of the 40-member council.

If commissioners don't reverse the decision, they should be removed from their posts.

Early voting has become very popular in Nashville, and it will help prevent bottlenecks during the Aug. 6 general election.

In the 2011 mayoral race, for example, 48 percent of voters cast ballots early and 49 percent voted early in the council at-large races.

Early voting is scheduled to occur from July 17 to Aug. 1, excluding Sundays and the 10 satellite sites were scheduled to be at several libraries, city halls and community centers from Madison to Hermitage and from Bellevue to Bordeaux.

Leaving one satellite site for half of Davidson County's voters is a sure way to drive down voter turnout, which was a mere 19.71 percent in 2011.

The proposed Davidson County Election Commission budget for 2015-16 is $5.039 million. It was $4.015 million in 2014-15 and $3.3 million in 2013-14.

The elections the Commission need to pay for include the Aug. 6 general election, the Sept. 10 runoff and the March 2016 presidential primary election.

That money commissioners want amounts to five-one-hundredths of 1 percent of the county's $1.968 billion proposed budget.

Metro Budget and Finance Chair Bill Pridemore said in a statement to The Tennessean accused commissioners of extortion. "To say that the Election Commission lacks funding for 9 of the 10 early voting sites defies logic," he said.

Nashville Finance Director Rich Riebeling said: "Does the election commission have enough money to run the elections this summer? Yes, they do. But they've chosen to punish the voters of Davidson County in order to enhance their budget. They need to reverse their position and remember that their job is to make elections accessible to the voters. To threaten early voting sites is outrageous."

The three Republicans on the commission voted for the satellite site reduction, while the two Democrats voted in opposition.

The Commission should have worked with the Metro Council to request a budget amendment rather than harm the interests of some 400,000 Davidson County voters. This reeks of bad politics.

The next Commission meeting is on June 11 and citizens should urge the commissioners to do the right thing.

Editor's note: The Davidson County Election Commission Chair Ron Buchanan spoke with The Tennessean. Here are his comments on the matter:

"The decision the commission had to make was, are we going to cut out funding for those 12 positions and jeopardize our ability to put on the elections in lieu of having early voting sites?" Buchanan said. "That was the decision.

"I believe that the council, before they vote on (the budget), needs to know the ramifications of what their vote will mean if they approve the mayor's proposed budget," he said. "Do we want to eliminate early voting? Absolutely not."

The Tennessean Opinion Engagement Editor David Plazas wrote this editorial on behalf of The Tennessean Editorial Board. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him atdplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.

Davidson County Election Commission

Ronald B. Buchanan (Chair)

Jim DeLanis

Tricia Herzfeld (Secretary)

Jennifer Lawson

A.J. Starling

Next meeting: 3:30 p.m., Thursday, June 11, Davidson County Election Commission, 1417 Murfreesboro Pike

Election Commission Phone number:(615) 862-8800

Mailing Address:

Davidson County Election Commission

P.O. Box 650

Nashville, TN 37202

Website: http://www.nashville.gov/Election-Commission