A Little Yellow Sign: Keeping Your Neighbors out of Primaries

A Little Yellow Sign: Keeping Your Neighbors out of Primaries

Jake Arning*

Growing up, my mother taught me to vote for the person, not the party. I know that sentiment is not a mantra that everyone lives by, but it is one that I have found many of my classmates, neighbors, and peers adhere to. Being raised in Tennessee, I was taught to be proud that the state had open primaries, which allowed neighbors to vote for neighbors. However, living out my mother’s mantra has become increasingly difficult since the Tennessee legislature passed a much-discussed amendment to the “Eligibility to vote” statute.[1] The amended portion of the statute mandates a sign be posted at polling stations on primary election days with the following language:

It’s the Law! Please Read…

It is a violation of Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-7-115(b), and punishable as a crime under Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-19-102 or Section 2-19-107, if a person votes in a political party’s primary without being a bona fide member of or affiliated with that political party, or to declare allegiance to that party without the intent to affiliate with that party.[2]

The two criminal statutes referenced in the statute are rarely enforced, usually due to illegally registered voting.[3] The threat of prosecution is remote. Yet, these statutes still command that each citizen be put on notice of the potential consequences of voting for a political party’s primary without being a member every time they enter a primary voting location. This demand is sufficient to demonstrate the legislature’s intent: they want you to be wary of voting for someone you are not “supposed” to vote for.

I know my contribution to this subject is long after many well-respected Tennesseans have had their say in opinion columns and courtrooms. Proponents of the amendment have provided many talking points about protecting the primary process from spoiler voters.[4] Opponents of the amendment have raised concerns about voter suppression and fear of prosecution.[5]Not wanting to tread too much over well-worn ground, I want to shine particular attention on the impact this has on the elections that matter, local ones.

Tennessee has an open primary system for a reason: it matters which people you vote for, not necessarily the party, when it comes down to choosing the right councilmember, road board candidate, or county sheriff. When problems lie along Main Street and not down Pennsylvania Avenue, I know I care about which of my neighbors is working to fix those problems and not which party they belong to. The beauty of an open primary system is that it allows neighbors to vote for those who will do their best for their community regardless of party. Telling those who wish to vote for different parties in different primary elections to wait for the general election relegates a particular class of voters solely to a second-class vote. Such an implication by the law will only lead to more polarized candidates on general election ballots and less representative candidates that move farther away from the middle of the political spectrum. This result is not because of the makeup of the citizenry’s political beliefs but only due to the electoral system. In a world where political conversations are only getting more heated and socially unacceptable, moving further in that direction is the last thing Tennessee needs to do.

I saw a sign with the amendment’s language when I voted in this year’s primary election. Thankfully, I could vote for someone I believed in who belonged to the political party I generally identified with. However, the yellow sign proclaiming the criminal penalties that would befall anyone who voted with motives other than mine did not sit right with me. Walking away from the polling place, my wife and I began discussing what that little yellow sign meant. To us, the sign forewarned that you could no longer vote for your neighbor in the primaries if you knew they were a good person but of a different political stripe than yourself. No longer could you be so inspired by a speech or policy proposal to vote for someone who you never thought you would have before. And no longer could you be convinced that one side put up the right person when the other did not.

Essentially, that little yellow sign attempts to keep you out entirely or lock you into a particular primary with the threat of prosecution. That is not simply bad policy, that is telling our neighbors to stay home or to stick with “their own.” That kind of message will not fix any problems along Main Street. It will only bring home to roost in our local communities all of the issues that already plague Pennsylvania Avenue. Thankfully, this bad policy is only a law, and laws can be changed. As citizens, we have the ability to make an impactful change by voicing our concerns about the little yellow sign and continuing to vote for the person, not the party.

*J.D. Candidate, University of Tennessee College of Law, Class of 2025.

[1] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-115 (West 2023).

[2] Id.

[3] See State v. Roberts, No. W2010-01538-CCA-R3-CD, 2011 WL 1220097, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Mar. 30, 2011) (upholding a conviction under T.C.A. 2-19-107 because the Defendant voted knowing he was ineligible due to his status as a felon); State v. Mynatt, 684 S.W.2d 103, 104, 106 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1984) (upholding the Defendant’s conviction but reducing his sentence under T.C.A. § 2-19-102).

[4] David Floyd, New Signs Intended to Inform Voters of State Penalties for Crossover Voting, Rep Says, Chattanooga Times Free Press (Feb. 13, 2024, 12:28 PM), https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2024/feb/13/new-signs-intended-to-inform-voters-of-state/.

[5] Tennessee Voters, LWVTN Refile Challenge to State’s “Bona Fide” Primary Voting Law, League of Women Voters, https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/tennessee-voters-lwvtn-refile-challenge-states-bona-fide-primary-voting-law (last updated May 1, 2024).