Ragan challenges primary loss
Ragan based his challenge on a state election law (T.C.A. 2-7-115) that requires a primary-election voter to be “a bona fide member of and affiliated with the political party” in whose primary the voter seeks to cast a ballot.
Ragan and the Anderson County Republican Party assert that in the Aug. 1 primary, a more-than-sufficient number of Democrats crossed over and voted in the Republican primary in a concerted effort to defeat Ragan.
Such crossover voting can happen in Tennessee because of its so-called open primary setup, in which voters do not need to be registered in a particular party to vote in that party’s primary.
In a news release Friday about his challenge of the election results, Ragan said:
“Based upon the Tennessee Code Annotated, the 1,135 votes in District 33 I am challenging as illegal crossovers constitute 19.6% — more than triple previously observed crossover rates.”
On Monday, Anderson County Republican Party Chair Myra Mansfield released a statement that the county party also is challenging the District 33 primary vote results.
“As the current chair of the local Republican Party, I feel a duty to protect our local party by letting the state party know that we challenge this tainted election,” she said.
“This is our way of showing that we won’t put up with this illegal practice.”
In his announcement of the challenge to the primary results, Ragan said Friday:
“This morning I filed a written notice of contest with the Republican State Executive Committee and State Primary Board concerning the August Republican Primary in District 33. District 33 encompasses over half of Anderson County.
“The reason for my action has nothing to do with my opponent in the most recent election or the conduct of Anderson County election officials. Rather, I am alleging potential election interference through unethical and illegal crossover voting, which destroys the integrity of our primary elections.”
Ragan said Monday that state Republican Executive Committee Chairman Scott Golden, will make a decision this week as to whether to hear his challenge.
If so, Golden would need to convene a meeting of the GOP State Primary Board to decide whether it should ignore the primary vote results and name the GOP candidate to appear on the November general election ballot as nominee.
“There is no appeal of that board’s decision,” Ragan said.
While there is no published rule on when the Primary Board has to make a decision, Ragan said it would need to be done by the third week of September in time for ballot preparation to begin.
Ragan said that both he and Scarbrough would be allowed to make statements to the Republican Primary Board in support of their candidacies.
