Commission to meet Tuesday; court date set Thursday
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
On Tuesday morning, the Williamson County Election Commission will reconvene for a second time this month. On the agenda: A discussion, and possible decision, about where to hold early voting in Brentwood for the upcoming Presidential Preference Primary.

On Jan. 5, the commission filed a lawsuit against several City of Brentwood leaders over the city’s denial of the Brentwood Library as an early voting site. A court hearing is scheduled Thursday morning to decide whether or not the commission has the right to use it without the city’s permission.

Since the lawsuit became public, new options have been identified, Election Commission chair Bob Brown said Friday. “After the publicity, we’ve had several people come forward” with possible alternatives to the library.

Included in those communications was an email from Bob Knestrick , group vice president of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, to Election Administrator Anne Beard.

 “The YMCA is a not-for-profit local agency who is always willing to support our community.  Please know any of our YMCA’s in Williamson County: Maryland Farms, Brentwood (Concord Rd.), Franklin, and Cool Springs would be happy to be a host site for early elections,” the email stated.

“I heard back quickly,” Knestrick said last Thursday when asked if the commission had replied. He noted that Brown was “very eager to talk to me about it.”

The Brentwood Family YMCA is among the options the commission will discuss Tuesday. Both Brown and Knestrick, however, acknowledged concerns about access and parking at the Concord Road facility, where the second-floor Teen Room could be made available.

“I am very grateful to Bob for his generosity,” Brown said.

Tennessee state code mandates several standards that must be met by a location to serve as a polling site. These include “adequate heat, light, space and other facilities, including a sufficient number of electrical outlets where voting machines are used, for the comfortable and orderly conduct of elections.” It also states that “insofar as practicable” an election commission should “arrange for the use of public schools and other public buildings for polling places.”

“One interesting and disturbing part of the story is that in the recent past we have had school officials tell us that they don't want voting in the schools. Many churches, not all, don't want voting in their buildings and now we have city officials telling us they don't want voting in their buildings,” Brown shared last week.

He said that while he hopes a site can be found for February’s early voting for the March election, he is concerned that the same location may not be available for future elections.

“It’s always best to have a stable location so the voters get used to voting in the same place,” he said. “We’re hoping to achieve a little more permanency.”

In addition to parties such as the Y, Brown noted that the commission is “trying to work out a compromise with the Brentwood officials and have offered several during this process. I am hopeful that we can reach a solution prior to the court date.”

Brentwood City Manager Mike Walker, among those named in the lawsuit, on Friday declined to elaborate on the process given the current litigation. He did issue a statement via email that he understood the Election Commission would meet Tuesday morning “to decide whether or not to move forward with their demand to use the Brentwood Library for early voting in February. No other update is available at this time.”

A hearing in Williamson County Chancery Court is scheduled at 9 a.m. Thursday morning at the Williamson County Courthouse in downtown Franklin. The Election Commission will meet at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Election Office at the county’s administrative complex on West Main Street in Franklin.  

Attempts to reach Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson to comment on this story were  unsuccessful on Friday.