By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–With exactly a month left before the March 3 Presidential Preference Primary and County Primary, the Henry County Elections Commission was busy Monday evening in preparations for it.
Monday’s meeting was the last before the March 3 election and board members reviewed voting machine tapes and sealed machines. They also officially set the time for polls to be open at 7 a.m. and reviewed voter registrations.
Elections Administration DeLaina Green said with Monday also being the deadline for registering to vote, the office was busy all day with some 44 new registrations, 18 address changes and one name change.
Total registered voters in Henry County as of February 3: 19,584, with 18,692 of those listed as active voters.
Green gave board members the good news that two pending lawsuits are not as big of a worry for the local election commission. One lawsuit was filed in federal court by the NAACP and League of Women Voters against Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, claiming that the new voter registration laws are unconstitutional because they disenfranchise voters. Initially, the lawsuit sought an excessive amount of files from several elections commissions, including Henry Co., but Green said, “We’ve been relieved of that responsibility.”
The other lawsuit has been taken over by the Tennessee Attorney General. It was filed by Hardin Co. Attorney Ben Harmon has filed a lawsuit against the five counties in the 24th Judicial District, claiming that misinformation provided to him by the Hardin County Election Commission caused him to miss the deadline to run for Chancellor.
Photo: Board member Tommy Townsend, foreground, looks over voting machine tapes with fellow board members (from left) Bennie Akers, Lorri Dalton and Steve Goggans.