Green Party of Tenn. v. Hargett
| Decision Date | 17 August 2016 |
| Docket Number | NOS. 3:11-cv-692,S. 3:11-cv-692 |
| Parties | GREEN PARTY OF TENNESSEE and CONSTITUTION PARTY OF TENNESSEE, Plaintiffs, v. TRE HARGETT, in his official capacity as Tennessee Secretary of State and MARK GOINS, in his official capacity as Coordinator of Elections, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
MEMORANDUM OPINION
The Green Party of Tennessee ("Green Party") and the Constitution Party of Tennessee ("Constitution Party") bring claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Tre Hargett, in his official capacity as Tennessee Secretary of State, and Mark Goins, in his official capacity as Coordinator of Elections for the State of Tennessee (collectively, "the State"). Plaintiffs are political parties seeking recognition and ballot access in federal and state elections. They bring facial and as-applied constitutional challenges to election statutes that they claim have impaired their access to the ballot. Previously, the Honorable William J. Haynes, Jr., twice granted summary judgment to Plaintiffs, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit twice reversed those judgments. In its most recent remand, the Sixth Circuit admonished the Court not to resolve this case on summary judgment again without substantial development of the record. Green Party of Tennessee v. Hargett, 767 F.3d 533, 554 (6th Cir. 2014).
The parties had the opportunity to fully develop the record during a two-day bench trial. After consideration of the entire record, the Court holds on the as-applied challenges that Plaintiffs have not carried their burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that their constitutional rights were violated. With respect to the Plaintiffs' facial challenges, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs have not carried their burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that no set of circumstances exists under which the challenged statutes would be valid. Accordingly, the Court will enter judgment for the State on all claims. The Court had consolidated the trial on the merits with Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction (Doc. Nos. 204, 218), which is DENIED.
In Tennessee, it is easy for a candidate to get on the ballot. To be listed on the ballot for any office besides president, a candidate with no party affiliation need only submit a petition signed by 25 registered voters. TENN. CODE. ANN. § 2-5-101(b)(1). To be listed on the ballot as an independent candidate for president, only a petition with the signatures of 275 registered voters is required. Id.
Tennessee has two avenues for political parties to appear on the state's ballot: they can qualify as a "statewide political party" or a "recognized minor party."
"Statewide political party" means a political party at least one (1) of whose candidates for an office to be elected by voters of the entire state has received a number of votes equal to at least five percent (5%) of the total number of votes cast for gubernatorial candidates in the most recent election of governor.
TENN. CODE ANN. § 2-1-104(a)(30).
"Recognized minor party" means any group or association that has successfully petitioned by filing with the coordinator of elections a petition which shall conform to requirements established by the coordinator of elections, but which must at a minimum bear the signatures of registered voters equal to at least two and one-half percent (2.5%) of the total number of votes cast for gubernatorial candidates in themost recent election of governor, and on each page of the petition, state its purpose, state its name, and contain the names of registered voters from a single county. . . .
TENN. CODE. ANN. § 2-1-104(a)(23) (the "ballot-access statute"). For the 2012 and 2014 elections 40,039 petition signatures were required for a political party to become a "recognized minor party." (Stipulations of Fact, Doc. No. 242 at ¶ 48.) For the 2016 and 2018 elections, 33,844 petition signatures will be required. (Id. at ¶ 49.) The State will include any candidate who is not a member of a statewide political party or a recognized minor party as an "Independent" on the ballot. TENN. CODE ANN. § 2-13-107(c).
The timeline for a party to file the 2.5% signature petition described in the ballot-access statute depends on how the party nominates its candidates. When Judge Haynes first granted summary judgment to Plaintiffs, Tennessee required that for certain offices, every party had to select their candidates by primary election. A party selecting their candidates by primary election must file its 2.5% signature petition on the first Thursday in April—119 days before the State's August primary election. TENN. CODE ANN. § 2-13-107(a)(1). The April filing deadline for the 2.5% signature petition is the same as (and tied to) to the statutory deadline for Independent and primary candidates to file their nominating petitions to appear on the August primary ballot:
Independent and primary candidates for any office to be filled at the regular November election for which a primary is required to be held at the regular August election shall qualify by filing such candidates' nominating petitions no later than twelve o'clock (12:00) noon, prevailing time, on the first Thursday in April.
TENN. CODE ANN. § 2-5-101(a)(1).
However, in the spring of 2012, while this case was on appeal the first time, Tennessee amended its ballot-access statutes to allow an alternative for minor parties to select their candidates. Green Party of Tenn. v. Hargett, 767 F.3d 533, 541 (6th Cir. 2014). The 2012 Amendment allows political parties to "nominate their candidates for any office by any methodauthorized under the rules o§f the party or by primary election." TENN. CODE ANN. § 2-13-203(a)(2) (emphasis added). If a party chooses to nominate its candidate by primary election, the deadline for filing the 2.5% signature petition is still the first Thursday in April. However, the 2012 amendment provided that if a party chooses to nominate by its own party rules, rather than by primary election, then the 2.5% signature petition is to be filed in August—90 days prior to the November general election. TENN. CODE. ANN. at § 2-13-107(a)(2).
Once a party has qualified as a recognized minor party by meeting the 2.5% signature requirement, it must then satisfy the requirements of a statewide political party contained in Tennessee Code Annotated § 2-1-104(a)(30) () in order to maintain ballot access beyond the current election year.
To maintain recognition beyond the current election year, a minor party must meet the requirements of a statewide political party as defined in § 2-1-104. A recognized minor party who fails to meet such requirements shall cease to be a recognized minor party. Such party may regain recognition only by following the procedures for formation of a recognized minor party. The coordinator of elections shall advise each county election commission of a recognized minor party's failure to receive a sufficient number of votes and shall order that said party cease to be recognized.
TENN. CODE. ANN. § 2-13-107(f) ("the ballot-retention statute").
Tennessee statutes also proscribe the order in which parties' candidates are to appear on the ballot.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or this title, on general election ballots, the name of each political party having nominees on the ballot shall be listed in the following order: majority party, minority party, and recognized minor party, if any. The names of the political party candidates shall be alphabetically listed underneath the appropriate column for the candidate's party. A column for independent candidates shall follow the recognized minor party, or if there is not a recognized minor party on the ballot, shall follow the minority party, with the listing of the candidates' names alphabetically underneath.
TENN. CODE ANN. § 2-5-208(d)(1) ("the ballot-order statute"). "Majority party" is defined as thepolitical party whose members hold the largest number of seats in the combined houses of the General Assembly. TENN. CODE. ANN. § 2-1-104(a)(11). "Minority party" is defined as the political party whose members hold the second largest number of seats in the combined houses of the General Assembly. TENN. CODE. ANN. § 2-1-104(a)(12).
The procedural history of Plaintiffs' challenges to the State's election laws can be found in four opinions in this 2011 case (two opinions from the district court and two Sixth Circuit opinions) and two opinions in a related 2013 case (one opinion from the district court and one Sixth Circuit opinion). See Green Party of Tenn. v. Hargett, 791 F.3d 684, 688-89 (6th Cir. 2015) (Green Party VI); Green Party of Tenn. v. Hargett, 767 F.3d 533 (6th Cir. 2014) (Green Party V); Green Party of Tenn. v. Hargett, 700 F.3d 816 (6th Cir. 2012) (Green Party IV ); Green Party of Tenn. v. Hargett, 7 F.Supp.3d 772 (M.D. Tenn. 2014) (Green Party III); Green Party of Tenn. v. Hargett, 953 F. Supp. 2d 816 (M.D. Tenn. 2013) (Green Party II ), vacated by, Green Party V, 767 F.3d 533; Green Party of Tenn. v. Hargett, 882 F. Supp. 2d 959 (M.D. Tenn. 2012) (Green Party I), reversed by Green Party IV, 700 F.3d at 816.2
The legal issues presented in this case overlap somewhat with those at issue in a parallel case filed by Plaintiffs in this Court in 2013. Plaintiffs filed this case in July 2011, challenging Tennessee's ballot-access and ballot-order statutes. Judge Haynes granted summary judgment to Plaintiffs in Green Party I, which the Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded in Green Party IV, in part because Tennessee had amended the statutes at issue. Green Party IV, 700 F.3d at 816. In Green Party IV, the Sixth...
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