Repeal Tennessee's ranked choice ban and amend the constitution so governors win with a majority of the ballots counted in the final round, and local leaders too wherever a community opts in.
Memphis voters chose ranked choice voting in 2008 and defended it by 25 points in 2018, yet never got to use it. A 2022 law bans it for any statewide or local office. Meanwhile, Tennessee's constitution hands the governor's office to whoever gets the most votes, so a crowded field can elect a governor most voters opposed.
We'll repeal that ban and let any city or county use ranked choice voting for its own offices, at its own cost.
For governor, we'll pass a ranked-count law and amend the constitution to explicitly allow it going forward. The 2030 race will go by most votes, and the ranked count will start in 2034.
A ranked count gives every candidate a reason to talk to people who don't already agree with them. Best of all, a vote for a long shot is never wasted: if a voter's first choice is eliminated, the ballot counts toward their next choice.
We'll give independent candidates for governor a ranked August ballot of their own, so the two with the broadest support advance to November.
Tennessee's November 2026 ballot lists 15 candidates for governor, and 13 of them are independents. A list that long dilutes the signal of the most viable candidates, the ones most prepared for late-campaign work like serious debates.
We'll shorten that list in August. On primary day, voters already ask for a Republican ballot, a Democratic ballot, or neither. We'll make that third ballot the Independent ballot, open to anyone who doesn't take a party ballot. Voters will rank the independents, and each round will drop the last-place candidate until two remain.
An extra contest sounds like extra work for counties, but it will print on the ballot no-party voters already receive, adding no election day, polling place, or poll worker, and the state will reimburse 100% of each county's certified added cost.
In November, we'll see the party nominees and at most two independents who each won their place, so our choice no longer gets lost in a list of 15.
We'll ask every candidate for governor to earn a place on the ballot with 2,500 voter signatures and a sworn statement of eligibility, and give the state a fair, fast way to remove anyone the law already bars.
Tennessee puts anyone on the ballot for governor who collects 25 signatures. In 2026, 27 people filed petitions and 15 made the November ballot, and none had to swear they can legally serve.
We'll raise that bar for every candidate, Republican, Democrat or independent. Each will file a petition signed by 2,500 registered voters, with no fee and no option to pay instead. A higher bar can sound like shutting people out, but 2,500 is about 0.14 percent of the 1,739,882 votes cast for governor in 2022. Candidates will also swear they meet the Constitution's qualifications and aren't barred by a felony conviction, and lying will be perjury.
Behind that oath, the state will remove a candidate the law bars, including independents, whom today's election code can't reach. It will act only on a certified conviction or another conclusive public record. A candidate who withdraws on their own by the 50th day before the election will come off the ballot, and one who withdraws by the 40th will leave the race with their name kept on ballots already printed. Where voters mark one name, votes for a removed or late-withdrawn candidate won't count.
We choose our governor from the November ballot. Every name on it will belong to someone who has shown real support and sworn they can serve.
