After a lengthy redistricting battle this year, more than 200 voters cast ballots in the wrong districts at the state or federal level, according to several reports.
“Nothing can be done,” Davidson County Election Administrator Jeff Roberts said. “If you think about it, we voted 45,000-plus people early voting. I don’t know which ballots they are. They all go into that scanner, and there’s nothing that identifies who, where, or anything on that ballot.”
According to Roberts, the issue arises from one voting precinct that is now split between Tennessee’s 6th and 7th Congressional Districts. Some voters voted in District 6, while others voted in the 7th.
In the federal race, 190 ballots were wrongly cast. Another 16 votes were cast in the wrong state Senate race, and six cast votes in the wrong state House race.
“Roberts confirmed Wednesday that the problem was not contained solely to one voting precinct and was not contained to just one congressional race,” according to one report. “Instead, it affected multiple addresses across all of Davidson County — one of the state’s most populous regions.”
Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) commented on the matter.
“I’m shocked and disappointed to hear about the balloting issue in Davidson County. No one should ever have to worry about whether or not their vote was cast properly,” he reportedly said. “The Davidson County Election Commission needs to fix this immediately. We are closely monitoring the situation.”
Roberts did not return a Thursday comment request.
Democrats quickly seized on the opportunity to blame Republicans for the confusion.
“The Republican Secretary of State is actively participating in voter suppression. They know they’re giving people the incorrect ballots, and they don’t care,” the Tennessee Democrat Party said in a Thursday tweet. “We’re going to fight back, but in the meantime, VOTE.”
The Republican Secretary of State is actively participating in voter suppression. They know they're giving people the incorrect ballots, and they don't care.
We're going to fight back, but in the meantime, VOTE. pic.twitter.com/R5sxMN63pL
— Tennessee Democratic Party (@tndp) November 2, 2022
The party provided no evidence for its claim that the secretary of state’s office knew about the ballot mix-ups.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
