In another push to give voters a real voice in politics, attorneys for Dave Rosenberg, candidate for Tennessee House District 50, yesterday filed suit against the Davidson County Election Commission for its “willful failure to take action, fostering voter confusion.” The Davidson County Chancery Court promptly issued an order requiring the commission to comply with a request Rosenberg made last Monday.

“We respectfully ask that the election commission be compelled to perform its duties under Tennessee Law, which empowers the commission to require ‘further identifying information’ if voters will be confused or misled by a candidate’s name,” attorney Rob Hill said before the court’s decision.

The complaint noted that one of Rosenberg’s opponents in the race, Dymon Hall, has asked to appear on the ballot as “Dave Hall,” a derivative of the name David Hall, who is a candidate for U.S. Congress and will appear on the same ballot. The candidates Hall are also using identical branding, and robocalls on behalf of the younger Hall alternate between identifying him as “Dave Hall” and “David Hall.”

“Regardless of intent, nobody has disputed the fact that voters will be confused and misled. This fact has been demonstrated in virtually every conversation regarding this matter,” Hill added. “If my client asked to run under the name Phil Bredesen, we would expect the election commission to take action to inform voters that Mr. Rosenberg is not the outgoing governor. Similarly, we are seeking to have Mr. Hall’s officially used and familiarly used name, Dymon, printed on the ballot.”

The lawsuit is another in a long list of efforts by the Rosenberg campaign to strengthen voters’ voices on election day. He has previously stated his opposition to incumbent Gary Moore’s proposed Constitutional amendment to double the length of time lawmakers remain in office before facing the voters. Rosenberg has also called for a transparent redistricting process to guarantee competitive elections rather than the drawing of “safe seats” behind closed doors that prevent voters from having a real choice.

Rosenberg concluded: “The bottom line is we should know with 100% certainty we are voting for the candidate we intend to—and not have to guess whether or not the same candidate is running in two races. Further, we should have the right to hold our elected officials accountable rather than cancelling legislative elections, and have the right to choose between the best candidates available—rather than allowing qualified candidates to be scared off by uncompetitive districts that are the result of backroom political deals.”

To learn more about Dave Rosenberg’s position on the Moore Amendment, please visit http://davetn.com/issues/powergrab.

To learn more about Dave Rosenberg’s position on redistricting, please visit http://davetn.com/issues/redistrict.