Horwitz Law, PLLC Clients the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws Prevail in Davidson County Election Litigation
In a thorough, 42-page opinion, Davidson County Chancellor Russell Perkins has ruled that the Davidson County Election Commission acted unlawfully when it set an election on a legally defective referendum opinion. “4GG’s Petition . . . did not prescribe a date as required by Section 19.01; it clearly prescribed, or listed, two alternative dates,” Chancellor Perkins ruled. “Legal prerequisites, however, must be met and the Election Commission’s failure to insist that the ‘prescribe a date’ legal requirement be complied with as written is not entitled to deference upon judicial review.” “4GG’s Petition did not meet the ‘prescribe a date’ requirement under § 19.01 of the Metropolitan Charter.”
In so ruling, Chancellor Perkins adopted the central argument advanced by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws as amici curiae in the case. On June 4, 2021, Horwitz Law, PLLC filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of clients the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws in Metropolitan Government, et al. v. Davidson County Election Commission, et al., Davidson County Chancery Court Case No. 21-0433-IV. The brief argued, among other things, that the Davidson County Election Commission acted unlawfully by approving a multi-date referendum petition despite the Metro Charter’s unambiguous requirement that petitioners “prescribe a date” for an election in order to afford appropriate notice to voters.
“Compliance with straightforward and longstanding legal requirements is not voluntary, and ignoring provisions of the Charter while depriving opponents of fair notice solely because a bare majority of the Election Commission supports a measure is impermissible,” said Horwitz Law, PLLC principal Daniel A. Horwitz—who represented both groups alongside Horwitz Law, PLLC attorney Lindsay Smith—in a statement to the Tennessean on the ruling. “As the Chamber and TSEL argued at length, the Davidson County Election Commission lacks authority to violate clear provisions of the Metropolitan Charter in an ill-advised effort to apply new and different rules to a favored petitioner,” Horwitz added in a statement to the Tennessee Lookout.
Read Chancellor Perkins’ June 22, 2021 Memorandum and Final Order in Davidson County Chancery Court Case No. 21-0433-IV here.
Read the Brief of Amici Curiae of Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws in Support of Petitioner here: https://horwitz.law/wp-content/uploads/Brief-of-Amici-Curiae-the-Chamber-and-TSEL.pdf
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Horwitz Law has successfully represented and advised numerous state and local elected officials, candidates for public office, PACs and political organizations, county political parties, and other political law clients across Tennessee regarding campaign finance, election, and political law issues. Horwitz Law has also successfully represented clients in landmark election-related litigation concerning local, state, and federal election law. Daniel A. Horwitz—Horwitz Law’s founding member—formerly served as election counsel for the Tennessee Democratic Party, and he currently serves as General Counsel for Tennesseans For Sensible Election Laws, an election-reform oriented multicandidate political campaign committee and advocacy group.
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