Sumner County Constitutional Republicans want to take over the school board. Some say they’re confusing voters to do it.

You’re reading one story in WPLN’s series exploring the wide-ranging impacts of a hard-right political faction in Middle Tennessee. Find all parts here. 

A fight is brewing in Sumner County. On one side is the Sumner County Commission and its hard-right Sumner County Constitutional Republicans majority. On the other side sits the county’s board of elections. 

On its face, the argument is centered around where voting machines are stored, but some say the disagreement could have wide-reaching implications for how elections happen and if citizens trust results in the future.

More: Book bans are expanding from schools into public libraries in Sumner County. The group behind the shift is contributing to a culture of fear.

In 2022, state lawmakers passed a law requiring that all county election commissions use voting machines that produce paper trails for this year’s presidential election. Sumner County needed to order 275 voting machines and store them in a secure facility to meet that new requirement. 

At the time, the facility used to store voting machines and house the elections commission wasn’t large enough to hold the new machines.

The county mayor approved the relocation of the commission and the voting machines to a new building, but a flood caused by burst pipes in December 2022 accelerated the timeline for the move.

When the new set of county commissioners — who were largely endorsed by the Constitutional Republicans — were sworn in, however, they tried to reverse the decision.

“It’s not a great idea to do that. I feel it’s in the interest of the citizens to keep the election department here and figure out a better way to do this thing,” Commissioner Mary Genung said at the time.

But others disagreed.

“No one seriously believes that the election commission could store the machines in the tiny confines of the basement of the county administration building. It’s not physically possible,” attorney Tom Lee tells WPLN News. 

Lee is now representing the election commission in a lawsuit against the county, claiming that reversing the mayor’s decision isn’t under the county commission’s authority.

And Lee believes the Constitutional Republicans’ goal is bigger than just moving some voting machines around.

Lee’s drawing this connection, in part, because the Constitutional Republicans tend to align with those that believe the last presidential election was fixed.

On their Facebook page, you can find a post that claims the U.S. Justice System is rigged against former President Donald Trump, and several posts advertise a local artist’s illustration of Trump standing in front of an American Flag, which can be bought at their scheduled meetings.

County Commissioner Wes Wynne thinks the relocation efforts remind him of high school drama.

“It’s personal vendettas. Let’s just put it out there,” said Wynne.

Wynne, who isn’t one of the Constitutional Republicans, says they have something against Lori Atchley, the administrator of elections.

“They don’t like her. You can go back and watch finance meetings or budget meetings and interactions with her,” Wynne said. “And her treatment is very different than other folks.”

In June, the County Commission enacted a resolution that asks state lawmakers to remove Atchley from her position, accusing her of moral turpitude. The judge over the case between the two bodies scolded the county’s attorney over the efforts to embarrass Atchley.

But, Wynne worries, none of this controversy will ultimately matter because voter turnout in Sumner is abysmal. Only 14% of voters participated in the 2022 election.

“I’ll use myself as an example. I was elected with 230-some odd votes out of a pool of voters of over 5,000,” Wynne said.

Along with low voter turnout, Constitutional Republicans are on Facebook posting that it’s illegal to vote in a political party’s primary without being a bonafide member. While that’s true it is a law, it’s never been enforced and is currently being challenged in court by the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.

The League’s president, Debby Gould, says it’s a tool used to create confusion.

“This law creates needless voter confusion. And then it will have a chilling effect on voter participation,” said Gould. “Because Tennessee does not have a voter registration system that includes party affiliations, voters do not have any way at all to know if they are a bonafide member of a political party.”

More than 80% of registered voters don’t cast ballots in Sumner County. And many worry the pending lawsuit, combined with the social media posts, could make the problem worse, as people head to the polls with early voting beginning next week.