Tennessee sued by former Knoxville mayor Victor Ashe over voting law

A group of Tennessee voters, including former Knoxville mayor and longtime Republican Victor Ashe, have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new law requiring polling places to inform voters that it is illegal to vote in a primary election without being a “bona fide” political party member.

The lawsuit alleges there is no legal mechanism to determine a voter’s “bona fide” party credentials and the law could spark voter confusion. Tennessee does not require voters to register by political party, meaning voters choose at the polls what party primary ballot they prefer.

Along with Ashe, the League of Women Voters of Tennessee and Knoxville voter Phil Lawson filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville.

In the federal court filing, the plaintiffs argue the law is unconstitutional because it threatens “voters, including primarily those who have no intent to crossover vote, with felony convictions based on nebulous standards that have no definition under state law and instead are defined by private political parties.”

Ashe, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland, told the USA TODAY Network-Tennessee, he was worried who gets to makes the call on voters’ party affiliation. He’s a lifelong Republican but sometimes writes critically of fellow party members in his Knox News columns.