JB

Dean at Railgarten

When voters opt to "enlarge type" button on polling machines in Shelby County, gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean's name gets pushed from the top of the first page of gubernatorial candidates to the second page of candidates, after the many independents also running for the seat.Shelby County Election Commission officials said the official order of the listing of candidates' names comes from the state. Tennessee election law says nominees on ballots here "shall be listed in the following order: majority party, minority party, and recognized minor party, if any."That Dean's name is kicked to a second page, after independents, (when "enlarge type" is pressed) is simply a characteristic of Shelby County voting machines, election officials here said.They decided to format the ballot that way, they said, because they thought it'd be better to have Dean's name appear at the top of a page than at the bottom.Dean's campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the situation, and has not, so far, said anything public about it.U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen did take the matter to social media, saying "this should not have happened."