GALLATIN, Tenn. — Shortly after being sworn in final fall, the brand new majority of the Sumner County Commission in Tennessee acted to replace certainly one of its official paperwork. The new model mentioned county operations wouldn’t solely be orderly and environment friendly, however “most importantly reflective of the Judeo-Christian values inherent in the nation’s founding.”
It was an essential second for the 14 commissioners who had campaigned below the banner of the Sumner County Constitutional Republicans. The group had waged a political warfare on fellow Republicans on this fast-growing area north of Nashville throughout a bitter main just a few months earlier than.
Since taking management, that majority has halted plans for a brand new constructing, rejected federal grants and sought to provide away a historic property, actions it mentioned had been consistent with its dedication to fiscal duty. The group additionally has been concerned in an escalating feud with the county’s election fee.
The early strikes have been cheered by their supporters, however some Republicans and group members say the commissioners are working outdoors political norms, inviting lawsuits and jeopardizing elections and different county operations.
“What’s happened here is the Sumner County constitutional conservative Republican group, they don’t believe in government,” mentioned Baker Ring, a Republican who’s serving his fourth time period on the county fee and isn’t aligned with the brand new majority. “They’re opposed to government. But now they are the government.”
The tensions are just like these enjoying out in communities throughout the United States the place conservative teams have been working candidates for native places of work in recent times and generally successful majorities, upending the way in which native governments function.
While their success at successful workplace has diversified, the implications once they do have gotten obvious in locations resembling Sumner County, the place they’ll wield energy – resembling budgeting authority – that would have implications for a way elections are run.
“If we don’t fund it, you don’t get to do it,” one county commissioner, Jeremy Mansfield, informed the election administrator and chair of the election fee throughout a contentious assembly final fall.
In Sumner County, a 22% improve in inhabitants between 2010 and 2020 has led to a necessity for extra authorities providers, together with colleges and academics, whereas offering a chance for the native Constitutional Republicans group to achieve energy.
Eight Republican commissioners had been defeated within the May 2022 main by challengers aligned with the Constitutional Republicans. That paved the way in which for the group to type the bulk after an August normal election by which lower than 15% of registered voters forged ballots. A key concern that helped gasoline the rise of the group had been two property tax will increase accepted by the county fee over the previous decade or so.
When the county’s election administrator got here earlier than the fee final fall searching for cash to pay election staff for the November midterms, commissioners refused and pointed to cash she nonetheless had within the financial institution.
The election administrator, Lori Atchley, has continued to ask, warning the fee that she is working at a deficit as a result of the employees needed to be paid.
It was at that assembly that Mansfield, in his second time period on the fee and an influential member of the Constitutional Republicans group, mentioned two weeks of early voting, as required by state regulation, “just seems excessive for this county.” When a fellow commissioner mentioned the county would quickly be including vote facilities – polling locations the place anybody within the county can forged a poll – Mansfield replied, “Well, we can always change that, too.”
Whether the county makes use of vote facilities or has a number of early voting areas falls below the authority of the 5 state-appointed members of the county election fee, which hires the native election administrator. But county commissioners management funding, and the newly elected conservatives say the county’s election price range is greater than comparable counties and that vote facilities are laborious to justify with out proof that they may improve turnout.
The election workplace is also searching for cash to finish its transfer to a bigger constructing. That transfer is on the middle of one other dispute, with a few of the new county commissioners saying it was not correctly licensed.
In March, county commissioners voted to require the election division to vacate the constructing. The election fee responded by submitting a lawsuit in opposition to the county, arguing that the dispute and compelled transfer “threaten the integrity of the 2024 election before a single vote has been cast.”
Mansfield mentioned he wouldn’t describe elections within the U.S. as safe or reliable and he believes the native election administrator has contributed to an erosion of confidence in the neighborhood. Among different issues, he pointed to a current misdemeanor quotation issued to Atchley over a personal property dispute unrelated to her job.
“Elections should be about integrity and trust,” he mentioned.
Atchley referred questions in regards to the lawsuit to the election fee’s legal professional and didn’t reply to a message searching for a remark in regards to the quotation and Mansfield’s criticism. Tom Lee, the election fee’s lawyer, mentioned members regard the quotation as a “private matter.”
There have been no reviews of large-scale election issues within the county.
Members of the Constitutional Republicans group mentioned the elections division was not being handled any in another way from different county departments when requested to justify their price range requests.
“People want small government and government they can trust,” Mansfield mentioned.
Elected to his first time period final yr, County Commissioner Wes Wynne is a Republican however not a part of the brand new majority. He mentioned he doesn’t perceive why there’s been a lot animosity between the county fee and election officers. He supplied a movement that offered a compromise on utilizing the bigger constructing, however mentioned it was ignored.
“So far, our commission has done a fabulous job at grinding every ax that they can find against people they don’t like,” he mentioned.
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