The August 4th, 2022 Primary Election is less than two weeks away! This is your chance to be part of securing a healthy future for Nashville by supporting and voting for the Metro Charter Amendments.
The ballot for the August 4th election is long but it is important for every Davidson County resident to persist to the bottom of the ballot which includes four proposed amendments to the Metro Nashville-Davidson County charter. Ratification of these amendments strengthen the stability of Metro Nashville government and are critical for Nashville’s future.
The Nashville Chamber supports Metro Charter Amendment No. 1 and updating the process of future charter amendments run through the Metro Council or run through a petition of registered voters in Davidson County.
Ratification of Amendment No. 1 is important for the stability of Metro Government. This amendment changes Davidson County charter amendment requirements to be more like those of 93 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Most counties require 15% of all registered voters to sign a petition to get it on the ballot. Amendment No. 1 increases the Metro petition signature threshold to 10% of registered voters in Davidson County. Currently, the threshold is 10% of voters who voted in the previous Metro country-wide election. This means that a low voter turn-out election can create an incredibly small threshold for a Metro charter amendment to get on the ballot, even if it is poorly written, requires an $800,000 special election, and is likely to be struck down in court at a later date.
Amendment No. 1 will also prevent poorly written Metro charter amendments from landing on the ballot and will save Davidson County taxpayers’ money on specially called election and lawsuits. This amendment ensures a legal review before the language is put in a petition. This will prevent petitions from being out in the community for signatures, then rejected after they are turned in due to poor legal language.
Voting FOR ratification of these charter amendments is voting FOR Nashville’s future.
Early voting for the August 4th election is NOW (July 15 – July 30). Find your early voting locations and times here and choose a location that is convenient to you as there are no assigned locations to early vote. To find your assigned polling location for the August 4th election day, click here. If you would like to preview the ballot before heading to the polls, sample ballots can be found here.
Charter Amendment No. 1
· This amendment updates the process of future charter amendments run through the Metro Council or run through a petition of registered voters in Davidson County.
· This amendment cleans up the process that Metro Council can go through if they want to make a Metro charter change. They can approve up to two resolutions with Metro charter amendments in each four year term.
· For charter amendments initiated by a petition –
o This amendment increases the petition signature threshold to 10% of registered voters in Davidson County.
o This amendment authorizes the Charter Revision Commission, rather than the Election Commission, as the authority that oversees the form, validity, preparation, and circulation of petitions to amend the Metro charter.
o Any referendum to change the Metro charter will be placed on the next regularly scheduled August or November metro, county, or state general election.
Charter Amendment No. 2
· This amendment requires police department employees to meet the physical qualifications set by the civil service commission instead of the requirements for admission to the U.S. Army or Navy. This ensures physical requirements are more in line with what the job requires.
· This amendment allows those who are legal U.S. residents, not just U.S. citizens, to be police department employees. This would ensure the Metro charter matches current Tennessee state law.
· Both amendment changes help to increase the potential workforce pool for the police department.
Charter Amendment No. 3
· This amendment clarifies language on the roles and differences between the metro board of health and the department of health.
· This amendment removes the director of health requirement of being a doctor, as long as there is a chief medical officer who is a doctor,
· This amendment cleans up Metro charter language, taking out words like “insane” and replacing them with “mentally ill.”
Charter Amendment No. 4
· This amendment officially creates the Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure as a Metro department and replaces the Department of Public Works in the Metro charter.
Vote ‘For” ratification on amendment 1 to show your support for the future of Nashville.
